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Bid to narrow transparency law ‘a move in the wrong direction,’ info watchdog says
Maynard says the change would let routine communications and other transitory material fall outside access requests, raising transparency risks.
- Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard warned Saturday that a Treasury Board proposal to narrow the definition of "record" under the Access to Information Act could exclude "entire swaths of government-held records" from public scrutiny.
- The Treasury Board argues that limiting the definition to records with "ongoing business value and that are stored in official repositories" would improve efficiency by removing routine communications and transitory records from the law's reach.
- Maynard strongly disagrees, noting that records initially labeled transitory often prove to be of "clear evidentiary and public interest value," and excluding them would shift an existing management gap into the access regime.
- She pointed out that digital platforms like Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Signal support informal exchanges not captured in official repositories, warning public servants against assuming such records are necessarily transitory and exempt from retrieval.
- Maynard emphasized that any review must "expand access, modernize the framework, and reinforce independent oversight," warning that the process "must not become a justification for further secrecy" regarding the public's fundamental right to know.
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18 Articles
18 Articles
The Toronto Star+4 Reposted by 4 other sources
Bid to narrow transparency law ‘a move in the wrong direction,’ info watchdog says
OTTAWA - Information commissioner Caroline Maynard says a federal proposal to narrow the scope of the Access to Information Act is a move in the wrong direction that could exclude
·Toronto, Canada
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Winnipeg Free Press+12 Reposted by 12 other sources
Bid to narrow transparency law 'a move in the wrong direction,' info watchdog says
OTTAWA - Information commissioner Caroline Maynard says a federal proposal to narrow the scope of the Access to Information Act is a move in the wrong direction that could exclude
·Winnipeg, Canada
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources18
Leaning Left10Leaning Right0Center3Last UpdatedBias Distribution77% Left
Bias Distribution
- 77% of the sources lean Left
77% Left
L 77%
C 23%
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