On access to information

The Cons have already gone from claiming to want to open up access to information, to narrowing access as best they can. Now, they're apparently doing an about-face from their initial call for the civil service to change its culture to follow the spirit of the Access to Information Act, setting requirements for the next Information Commissioner with a heavy emphasis on recruiting a candidate from the culture the Cons claimed to want to change:

The fix may be in for a candidate to replace Canada's information ombudsman, warns the man who currently holds the job.

John Reid, the outgoing information commissioner of Canada, raised the alarm Tuesday, saying a recently posted job notice strongly suggests the Conservative government wants to fill the coming vacancy with a senior bureaucrat rather than someone more independent...

Reid, who's scheduled to end his term Sept. 29, noted the Privy Council Office posted the job vacancy on an obscure government website on the Friday before the Labour Day weekend, and allowed just seven days for interested citizens to deliver their applications. The web posting has since been removed.

"The notice of vacancy was not published in the Canada Gazette, nor was it published in the national press," said Reid, who has frequently clashed with prime ministers and civil servants bent on withholding information.

The job description also appeared to be tailored to the most senior levels of the federal bureaucracy, he said later in an interview.

"It's basically for a deputy minister," he said. "I can't think of anyone who would come from the private sector."

It shouldn't take an access-to-information request for potential candidates to know about the opportunity to seek a role as Information Commissioner. But for the Cons, even the office most focused on ensuring public access to information is apparently one to be hidden out of sight.

As noted by the article, it remains to be seen whether the Cons are actually hiring out of the hidden process, or whether they'll at least backtrack enough to make the position openly available. But the mere attempt to suppress any information about the opening should serve as an indictment of the Cons' commitment (or lack thereof) to transparent government - and however the next commissioner is hired, that attitude will present a major challenge.