Governments are often fearful of freedom of information laws, but they shouldn't be

This column was originally printed in the National Post on May 16, 2016 For governments, dealing with freedom of information laws can be like juggling dynamite — one wrong move can have explosive results. For investigative journalists, opposition parties and groups such as the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), these laws are indispensable for digging up documents to defend taxpayer interests. Virtually every accountability issue, from the federal sponsorship scandal to former Alberta premier Alison Redford’s sky palace, involves documents obtained through freedom of information laws. Today, we’re seeing both important advances in, and serious threats to, government transparency. On the plus side, Canadians will now be able to send access to information requests to the federal government for no cost beyond the $5 filing fee. In the past, the government imposed fees for requests deemed large or complex, which totalled $56,000 in 2014-15.