OGP Fwd: Alberta Ranks Last in Transparency Study

[Tracey P. Lauriault]

fyi

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: CLD Info <[hidden email]>
Date: Mon, Apr 9, 2012 at 3:29 PM
Subject: Alberta Ranks Last in Transparency Study
To: Toby Mendel <[hidden email]>

10 April 2012: For immediate release

Alberta Ranks Last in Transparency Study

The Centre for Law and Democracy today released the results of a comparative study which highlights problems with Alberta’s access to information legislation. The study compared access to information legislation from Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia using the RTI-Rating Methodology, an analytical tool developed to assess the strength of access laws. Alberta’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) finished last in the group.

British Columbia topped the rankings, scoring 97 points out of a possible 150, while Ontario came second with 86 and Nova Scotia placed third with 82, just ahead of Alberta which scored 80.

“Alberta’s access to information law is weak,” said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of the Centre for Law and Democracy. “But all of the four provincial laws that we rated have problems, as does our federal law. Given the repeated political scandals involving a lack of accountability, we hope that the this study will raise awareness about the urgent need to improve Canada’s access to information laws across the board.”

Alberta’s poor score came mainly as a result of the narrow scope of the law and the overly broad regime of exceptions. These loopholes, which include blanket exclusions for the offices of MLAs and for information relating to government contracts, severely undermine the ability of the law to function properly as a tool for public accountability.

CLD plans to produce a comprehensive ranking of all 14 Canadian access to information laws. This work is part of CLD’s broader RTI-Rating Project, which includes a comparative assessment of 89 national right to information laws, released in September 2011. Canada came in 40^th place worldwide with a score of 85. Alberta would have placed 51^st on that survey, just behind Angola, Colombia and Niger.

To view the entire results of the study please visit: http://www.law-democracy.org/?p=1875. 

For more information on the RTI Rating tool please visit: http://www.law-democracy.org/?page_id=1003.

 

For further information, please contact:

Michael Karanicolas

Legal Officer

Centre for Law and Democracy

email: [hidden email]

tel: <a href="tel:%2B1%20902%20448-5290" target="_blank" value="[phone]">[phone]

www.law-democracy.org

___________________________________

Centre for Law and Democracy

[hidden email]

Tel:  <a href="tel:%2B1%20902%20431-3688" target="_blank" value="[phone]">[phone]

Fax: <a href="tel:%2B1%20902%20431-3689" target="_blank" value="[phone]">[phone]

www.law-democracy.org

--

Tracey P. Lauriault
613-234-2805
 

[Mark Weiler-2]

That's exciting news that the Centre for Law and Democracy is doing a comparison on the FOI laws in Canada.

By focusing on the legislative features of the law itself, CLD allows for interesting comparisons with other studies that have looked at metrics of access  E.g., Newspaper Canada's annual audit of ability to get info via FOI law from provinces/territories.

Structure of the FOI Law (by Centre for Law and Democracy)

BC (97 out of 150),

ON (86/150),

NS (82/150),

AB (80/150)

Speed of Access (by Newspaper Canada)

NS (A),

AB (B),

ON (B),

BC (F)

Completeness of Access (by Newspaper Canada)

NS (A)

AB (B)

BC (B)

ON (D)

---

From: Tracey P. Lauriault <[hidden email]>
To: civicaccess discuss <[hidden email]>
Sent: Monday, April 9, 2012 1:11:34 PM
Subject: [CivicAccess-discuss] OGP Fwd: Alberta Ranks Last in Transparency Study

fyi

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: CLD Info <[hidden email]>
Date: Mon, Apr 9, 2012 at 3:29 PM
Subject: Alberta Ranks Last in Transparency Study
To: Toby Mendel <[hidden email]>

10 April 2012: For immediate release

Alberta Ranks Last in Transparency Study

The Centre for Law and Democracy today released the results of a comparative study which highlights problems with Alberta’s access to information legislation. The study compared access to information legislation from Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia using the RTI-Rating Methodology, an analytical tool developed to assess the strength of access laws. Alberta’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) finished last in the group.

British Columbia topped the rankings, scoring 97 points out of a possible 150, while Ontario came second with 86 and Nova Scotia placed third with 82, just ahead of Alberta which scored 80.

“Alberta’s access to information law is weak,” said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of the Centre for Law and Democracy. “But all of the four provincial laws that we rated have problems, as does our federal law. Given the repeated political scandals involving a lack of accountability, we hope that the this study will raise awareness about the urgent need to improve Canada’s access to information laws across the board.”

Alberta’s poor score came mainly as a result of the narrow scope of the law and the overly broad regime of exceptions. These loopholes, which include blanket exclusions for the offices of MLAs and for information relating to government contracts, severely undermine the ability of the law to function properly as a tool for public accountability.

CLD plans to produce a comprehensive ranking of all 14 Canadian access to information laws. This work is part of CLD’s broader RTI-Rating Project, which includes a comparative assessment of 89 national right to information laws, released in September 2011. Canada came in 40^th place worldwide with a score of 85. Alberta would have placed 51^st on that survey, just behind Angola, Colombia and Niger.

To view the entire results of the study please visit: http://www.law-democracy.org/?p=1875. 

For more information on the RTI Rating tool please visit: http://www.law-democracy.org/?page_id=1003.

 

For further information, please contact:

Michael Karanicolas

Legal Officer

Centre for Law and Democracy

email: [hidden email]

tel: [phone]

www.law-democracy.org

___________________________________

Centre for Law and Democracy

[hidden email]

Tel:  [phone]

Fax: [phone]

www.law-democracy.org

--

Tracey P. Lauriault
613-234-2805
 

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