THERE SHOULD BE 52 RIGHT TO KNOW WEEKS EVERY YEAR
Every week should be Right to Know Week, says NDP MLA Steve Cardiff.
"The Yukon government has declared September 28 to October 2 as Right to Know Week," Cardiff adds. "I think it’s time it started treating every week of the year as Right to Know Week and stopped hiding behind old and weak laws that are not in the public interest."
Currently, the definition of ‘public body’ under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act excludes the Workers’ Compensation Health and Safety Board, the Yukon Energy Corporation, the Yukon Hospital Corporation, Yukon College and all municipalities.
"This is ridiculous, especially when the YEC and YHC, for example, are embarking on major capital projects that will cost many millions of taxpayer dollars," he says. "The public should be able to find out if their money is being spent wisely and in their best interest. Right now, getting even basic information about the projects these bodies are building is very hard, if not impossible, under the existing laws."
Although the ATIPP Act is currently being reviewed, there is no indication the bodies listed above will be included when the government eventually tables amendments to this act in the legislature.
"That would be one concrete way to show the Yukon people the government takes their right to know seriously," Cardiff says. "People should be able to get information about things their government is doing, easily and quickly."
The NDP caucus recently asked through ATIPP for copies of four contracts, totaling $275,000, the government signed with consultants and lawyers to negotiate a secret deal with Calgary-based ATCO to ‘rationalize’ the territory’s energy assets. The request was denied.
"Surely, the Yukon people have a right to know the details of the deal that was being negotiated, because from everything I have heard and read, it likely would have resulted in reduced local control over our energy assets," Cardiff concludes.
"This government now has a serious credibility problem because it has been much too secretive for much too long. It needs to be more open and accountable, and a good place to start would be to broaden the ATIPP Act to include all the bodies I just named."