Media Update for February 11, 2010

I fail to understand why the national media hasn’t picked up the story of MLA expenses in Nova Scotia. As I reported on Monday, the province’s Auditor General has found the kind of profligate spending by elected officials that made such big news in the U.K. and caused some navel gazing in Ottawa. In any event, the Premier (and everyone else) is scrambling to make it look like he’s going to fix the problem. One MLA, Richard Hurlburt, has resigned in disgrace for his part in this scandal. Although we’re really talking about small potatoes, this is the kind of thing that brings down governments because it’s so public and such an obvious expression of contempt for the public.

The problems with access to information are once again in the spotlight this week. Those of you who read my Saturday post will know that I think the system has basically collapsed. On Monday, as the National Post wrote, things descended into farce. After a political staffer illegally interfered with an access to information request for a fairly innocuous report, the excuse was made that he was only trying to save the requestor (a Canadian Press reporter) photocopying charges (a whopping $27.40).

Meanwhile, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service is fighting tooth and nail to keep Tommy Douglas‘ file from being released. We already know that it’s embarrassing to the RCMP, but they’re also claiming that releasing it would “prevent or severely hamper the service’s ability to discharge its statutory mandate.” Keep in mind that these files are almost 50 years old.

What I’d like to know is: at what point did our system reach the point where government officials (political and bureaucratic) could freely make such Orwellian lies? I mean, honestly. Have they no shame? And have we no outrage?

In aviation news, there was a joint Liberal-NDP round table on aviation security in Ottawa on Wednesday the 10^th of February. Kady O’Malley blogs it well. Hugh Danford and I also attended; I’ll provide a briefing in my Saturday post. In addition, the inquiry into the Cougar helicopter crash continues in Newfoundland.

Finally, I include a small story about John Baird going to Ethiopia to advocate for a Canadian being held in prison there. I cover this because I’ve run stories critical of the government’s handling of Canadians in trouble overseas in the past, and this story serves as a nice contrast. We wish him success.

Have a good weekend.

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MLA Expense Padding Scandal Has N.S. Government Scrambling

Political Interference with Federal ATI Request Triggers Investigation

CSIS Trying to Block Release of Tommy Douglas’ File

Aviation Safety and Security News

More Privacy Problems in B.C. Government

John Baird Visits Ethiopia to Try Help Jailed Canadian

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MLA Expense Padding Scandal Has N.S. Government Scrambling

Hurlburt resigns amid expense scandal
The Chronicle Herald (Halifax), February 9, 2010
Summary: A member of the Nova Scotia legislature who became a central figure in a spending allowance scandal has resigned his seat.

MLA expenses abuse: Clean the stables now
The Chronicle Herald (Halifax), February 9, 2010
Summary: The political ducking and weaving continues for Nova Scotia MLAs caught amidst the expenses minefield. (Column)

MLAs to soon account for every penny
The Chronicle Herald (Halifax), February 9, 2010
Summary: The way MLAs set expenses for themselves will soon be done out in the open, Premier Darrell Dexter said Monday. Dexter said the all-party internal economy board that meets behind closed doors will be abolished. It will be replaced with a management commission of MLAs that he expects will hold public meetings.

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Political Interference with Federal ATI Request Triggers Investigation

Political staff shouldn’t meddle in FOI releases: PMO
CTV News, February 8, 2010
Summary: Federal ministers have been warned by their boss against subverting Canada’s freedom-of-information law after a political aide at Public Works ordered a sensitive document withheld from a media requester.

Minister’s office being investigated over censored report
Calgary Herald, February 9, 2010
Summary: The Harper government says an investigation of a Conservative operative who allegedly interfered with the release of a censored report is an “isolated” incident.

Political aide disciplined for error in handling ATIP file
CTV News, February 11, 2010
Summary: A top political aide who blocked the release of a sensitive report requested under the Access to Information Act has acknowledged his error — and has been stripped of his duties reviewing such files, says his boss.

Blocking our right to know
National Post, February 10, 2010
Summary: After 13 years of Liberal scandals great and small, we doubt most voters expected any reasonable degree of forthrightness from their federal government. Sure enough, after four years of Conservative rule, we suspect it’s dawned on most Canadians that the party’s promises of greater openness and accountability were worth about as much as a Liberal leader’s promise of a national childcare program. It’s easy to argue that this government clutches information even tighter to its chest than its predecessors. This is an ongoing disappointment. But this week, the non-disclosure instinct produced farce. (Editorial)

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CSIS Trying to Block Release of Tommy Douglas’ File

CSIS trying to block release Tommy Douglas’ file
Toronto Sun, February 10, 2010
Summary: Canada’s spy agency is pulling out all the stops to block the release of decades-old intelligence on socialist icon Tommy Douglas. In an affidavit filed in Federal Court, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service argues that full disclosure of the file on Douglas could endanger the lives of confidential informants and jeopardize the agency’s ability to conduct secret surveillance.

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Aviation Safety and Security News

Cougar Flight 491 crash could’ve been prevented if safety was a priority: widows
Winnipeg Free Press, February 10, 2010
Summary: Three women widowed by the crash of Cougar Flight 491 made an emotional appeal Wednesday to make travel to Newfoundland’s offshore a greater priority, saying the deaths of 17 aboard the aircraft could have been prevented.

Liveblogs: Aviation security, Afghanistan committee – what’s a Hill reporter to do? (Both.)
CBC News, February 10, 2010
Summary: Kady O’Malley liveblogs the Afghanistan and Aviation round tables, providing an excellent summary.

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More Privacy Problems in B.C. Government

B.C. government too slow in dealing with privacy breach, report finds
The Province (Vancouver), February 9, 2010
Summary: More than 1,400 people whose personal information was found by police in the home of a B.C. government supervisor last year should have been notified immediately — not seven months later, a new report says. B.C. acting privacy commissioner Paul Fraser says the length of time it took to alert income assistance clients of the privacy breach was the “most significant failure” in the government’s response.

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John Baird Visits Ethiopia to Try Help Jailed Canadian

Baird jets to Ethiopia in bid to free jailed Canadian
Winnipeg Free Press, February 10, 2010
Summary: Transport Minister John Baird made a whirlwind visit to Addis Ababa on Wednesday in a bid to secure the release of Bashir Makhtal, a Canadian citizen who’s spent three years languishing in Ethiopian jails.