The federal information commissioner has added to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s public relations woes by criticizing it for a dismal record on responding to access-to-information requests.
However, Suzanne Legault also commended the agency for efforts to do better.
Last week, the interim information commissioner presented a report to Parliament that said CFIA was one of many federal agencies and departments that made a mockery in 2008-09 of the legal requirement to respond to information requests in a timely manner.
She gave the CFIA a D grade for its tendency to miss deadlines, to ask for extended deadlines that it subsequently missed and for having a centralized information system that involved approval from the CFIA president for every release that could have public interest impact.
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The agriculture minister’s office also had to be informed of the impending release, although the commissioner’s report did not make clear if its approval was necessary.
Legault said the agency had an “alarming” non-compliance rate of 35.8 percent.
“CFIA’s rate of compliance in the last fiscal year results from a number of factors,” she wrote.
“All requests of great interest to the public went to the president’s office for final approval. While access staff did not report any delays resulting from this approval process, the fact that the president, the minister’s office and the public affairs division received copies of each of the proposed release packages created an administrative burden that distracted access staff from processing requests.”
Politically sensitive files such as BSE and the listeriosis crisis sometimes resulted in heavier traffic in information requests, Legault acknowledged.
However, veteran access-to-information researcher Ken Rubin said CFIA has a problem that goes beyond increased information requests.
“They have had a problem responding to requests, more so than in the past,” he said.
“I think part of it is an attempt at tighter control by the current president (Carole Swan).”
Although Agriculture Canada was not part of the information commissioner’s review, Rubin said the department also has its problems.
“They really have a hard time making information available in a timely fashion.”
While the CFIA’s D was not a flattering grade, other government departments received failing grades or worse.
Legault said the government, with its shoddy record of obstructing access-to-information requests, is making the information policy a sham.
The Conservatives were elected on a platform of transparency but their record on releasing information that could portray government actions in a bad light has been abysmal.
The information commissioner did acknowledge that the CFIA had more information requests in the year under review, but said the agency did not dedicate the additional staff necessary to handle the increased workload.
Her report said the agency has promised to do better in future. More dedicated access-to-information staff will be hired and the bureaucratic process has been simplified.
“CFIA also revised the delegation order to give full authority to the access-to-information co-ordinator to approve the release of records and approved staffing of additional permanent positions,” her report said.
“The Office of the Information Commissioner anticipates a far more transparent approach to access to information as a result of the new commitment of resources and commends the demonstrated leadership of CFIA to improve its compliance.”
