TORONTO - Correspondence between Ministry of Finance officials and a Liberal staffer is proof of government interference in the freedom of information process, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said Tuesday.
The New Democrats used the FOI law to try to learn how Liberal staffers were handling requests, and found what they say is proof of political interference in the process.
Documents obtained by the NDP show a media request for a 2009 audit report on the Niagara Parks Commission, a request that Ministry of Finance officials wanted to transfer to the more appropriate Ministry of Tourism.
But emails show Andrew Chornenky, now Finance Minister Dwight Duncan's press secretary, told the officials not to be so helpful.
"Please just say no records exist," wrote Chornenky.
A member of the public asked for an audit -- which was paid for by the public -- of an institution that is publicly owned and publicly controlled, but the Liberals wanted to mislead that person, charged Horwath.
"Premier, this just stinks and it stinks very badly," Horwath said in the legislature. "Is this Liberal arrogance at work, or is this the government that is just so out of touch that they don't know the difference between serving the interests of the people and serving the interests of their own party?"
Premier Dalton McGuinty ducked the question, leaving it to Duncan to clarify that all his assistant was doing was telling officials to say no records exist at the Finance Ministry.
The Liberals say it's not their job to tell someone making an FOI request which ministry actually has a requested file.
Horwath's assertions are "false and inaccurate" and she's taking the emails completely out of context, Duncan argued.
"The records did not exist in finance and we moved expeditiously to ask that they be made public," Duncan told the legislature. "In this particular case, the leader just has got her facts wrong."
It's hard to see how a direct quote from a Finance Ministry staffer who said "Please just say no records exist" has been taken out of context, said Horwath.
"There's no context around that," she said. "It's pretty cut and dry."
Outside the legislature, Duncan couldn't say why Chornenky would have told officials to say no records existed instead of redirecting the request to Tourism, which they eventually did.
"I can't explain that other than to say, look we sent the transfer for request, and it went over," he said.
Duncan also rejected suggestions there was at least a perception that political staff are interfering in the FOI process.
"I don't agree with that," he said. "I think it's manufactured rage. I think it's phoney, and I think my staff have conducted themselves appropriately in all the circumstances."
But Horwath said the Liberals were clearly trying to keep the facts from people.
"The government can scramble all they want, but it's clear their political staff were trying to prevent information that should be made public from becoming public," said Horwath.
On Monday, the NDP revealed emails from Chornenky telling officials to label some freedom of information requests as "contentious," which they say is code for slowing down the release of data.
However, Duncan said it was just a word that alerts ministers to the contentious nature of a request, and has no bearing in law or regulation.
