Mr. Speaker, on March 4 I asked a question of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has declined to direct his ministers to be open, transparent and accountable, when it comes to access to information requests.
This stands in stark contrast to the attitude in the United States under President Barack Obama. He really took leadership. On the President's first day in office, he issued an executive order and two presidential memoranda, suggesting and establishing a presumption of disclosure of information that is requested under the freedom of information act.
In Canada, a troubling situation has developed. Requests for information about what the government is doing are being delayed, disrupted and, really, are harming Canadian democracy.
For example, three Conservative cabinet ministers are under investigation by the Information Commissioner. However, the Information Commissioner has had to go even further than that. I quote:
The scope and focus of the systemic investigation will be expanded to examine whether political interference in the processing of access requests is a cause of delay or unduly restricts disclosure under the Act, including any reviews and approvals by the offices of ministers or institutional heads.
This is a very serious issue. Not only do we not have an open, transparent and accountable government but now we have to have our Information Commissioner going forward to see if there is some kind of interference by a minister's office, by staff, by members of other parties, for us to get information.
The Information Commissioner is in place to assist individuals and organizations who believe that federal institutions have not respected their rights under the Access to Information Act. She has been very active because of the government's unwillingness to be accountable to Canadians.
For example, most recently, it was reported that a staff member from the office of the then public works minister had attempted to unrelease information that had been requested by a reporter. A CP reporter, who broke the story on how his access request was handled by the office of the minister, is a veteran access to information user and has been using the system since it came into force in 1983. He said that, in his opinion, the access to information system has pretty much ground to a halt and that he has never seen the system so broken.
A March 2008 access to information request, for example, by the Liberal caucus research bureau, for all documents concerning Canada's decision to stop Afghan detainee transfers, was denied in December 2009. That is 639 days later, after the issue had become a full-blown political controversy for the Conservative government. The request was denied because the reports could be used in anticipated or contemplated litigation.
I want to ask again. When is the Prime Minister going to direct his ministers to be open, transparent and accountable? What do they have to hide?