OTTAWA - Some key Crown corporations are losing their legal fig leaves as Canada's revamped freedom-of-information law exposes them to more citizen scrutiny.
Seven such agencies -- including Canada Post, CBC and Via Rail -- have been gearing up all summer for Sept. 1, the first day they fall under the provisions of the Access to Information Act.
Union members, activists, politicians and ordinary Canadians now can ask for inside information on these once-protected government icons by filling out a simple form and paying a basic $5 fee.
But critics question whether the much-touted move by the Conservative government will make the often-secretive Crown corporations any more transparent, or prevent another sponsorship scandal from festering in their corridors.
Last year's Federal Accountability Act, a sweeping piece of legislation intended to shed light into the dark recesses of government, also specifically protected trade secrets and confidential business information from disclosure at Canada Post, Via Rail and Export Development Canada.
And at the CBC, any information "that relates to its journalistic, creative or programming activities" is off the table and inaccessible to requesters. The protective wall is built even higher at Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.
The new provisions allow the release of information about the "general administration" of the agencies, which the law specifies as including travel and hospitality expenses. Critics predict the flow of information will be but a trickle.
"It means basically you don't get anything more than what's in their annual report," said John Reid, the former information commissioner of Canada who retired earlier this year after battling government over the changes.
In an interview Friday, he called the raft of amendments protecting Crown corporations the "dumbing down of the Act."
Canada Post, which was embroiled in the sponsorship scandal through former chief Andre Ouellet, has set up an eight-person unit to handle Access to Information Act requests, under Manon Tardiff who was transferred from elsewhere in the organization.
Post office spokesman John Caines declined to provide the cost of the unit, saying the information would have to be requested under the Act. One candidate for the job of leading the unit told The Canadian Press that a headhunting agency said it paid $164,000.
Justice John Gomery's report on the sponsorship scandal specifically cited a series of misdeeds at Canada Post, most involving Ouellet who was a Liberal patronage appointee.
"In general, Mr. Ouellet's actions and administration of the business operations of Canada Post ... were characterized by extravagance," he wrote in a report that highlighted the consequences of secrecy in government and helped drive reform.
"Decisions were made unilaterally, disregarding established procedures and favouring his friends over the interests of the corporation."
Ouellet stepped down in 2004 after an audit said he had spent $2 million for travel and hospitality over eight years without supporting receipts. He later filed suit against Ottawa, saying he had been effectively fired, unfairly, after an exemplary performance.
Canada's Crown corporations have long fought any move to bring them under the umbrella of the freedom-of-information law, claiming that greater public scrutiny would hobble their competitive business positions.
"Access to Information would greatly impair Canada Post's ability to compete successfully and make a profit and would undermine its relationship with third parties whose information would be vulnerable in Canada Post's hand," Caines wrote in a 2003 letter to a national newspaper.
On Friday, Caines said fresh provisions in the law that specifically protect Canada Post's business information have allayed those concerns. "Yes, we're comfortable with that," he said.
Similarly at Via Rail, which has a three-person unit at its Montreal headquarters to handle coming requests, with a budget of up to $500,000 annually. Spokesman Malcolm Andrews said the law's specific exemption for Via Rail's commercially confidential information has meant that "we're totally comfortable going into the process."
The CBC has budgeted $400,000 in operating costs in the first year for its three-person Access to Information office, located in Ottawa.
Spokesperson Katherine Heath-Eves said the corporation supports transparency, but additional strain on resources "is too bad, because it does mean we normally have to pull from programming to do these things, which means there's less money with which we can fulfil our mandate."
