Right to Know Falls Short

Lee Harding Politicians aren't fans of open government. In opposition perhaps, but not after taking the reigns. Stephen Harper famously ran on his accountability platform, but once in office exempted promised reforms to access to information laws. Similar tales can be told in many provinces. Even where good laws exist, governments can still erode transparency through generous interpretation of exemption clauses, moving slowly on requests, charging exorbitant fees, cutting funding to information offices, or by insisting a document doesn't exist.