Federal lawyers have spent more than $1.6 million in court battles to block the release of public records under Access To Information laws, despite repeated promises of transparency from Liberal leaders.Blacklock's Reporter says according to documents tabled in the House of Commons, government departments have spent $1.63 million since 2021 on legal disbursements and agent fees tied to fighting disclosure orders. The figures were provided in response to a question from Conservative MP Doug Shipley, who asked how much the Department of Justice had spent on litigation against the federal Information Commissioner.Since 2021, federal lawyers have gone to court at least 65 times to challenge orders compelling departments to release information. Agencies involved include the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the Departments of Agriculture, Canadian Heritage, Immigration, indigenous Services, National Defence, Public Works, Transport, the Trans Mountain Corporation, and Export Development Canada..Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard told MPs last year that federal resistance to disclosure has become so widespread that her office had to expand its own legal staff. “We have our own legal counsel, but I had to increase counsel by two, at least three employees, to respond to that,” she said. Maynard warned that “the information system is broken” and accused some departments of “routinely violating the law.”“We are in a place where information is key,” she said. “Canadians don’t trust governments. We need information to be factual, timely and provided to them.”.Prime Minister Mark Carney has called transparency “quite important,” but has yet to commit to reforming the system. Asked about improving access laws last April, he admitted the issue “wasn’t in the platform” but said it was “in my head.”Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, also promised openness, saying in 2023 that “transparency is an important part of building confidence for Canadians in their governments.” But after a decade of Liberal pledges to make government “open by default,” Ottawa is still spending taxpayer dollars to keep its own records under wraps.
