The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is claiming credit for the British Columbia government bringing B.C. Ferry Services Inc. back under freedom of information legislation, even though it's something many groups have called for since 2003.
“CTF wins greater transparency at BC Ferries,” reads the title of a blog post by B.C. director Maureen Bader.
“The Canadian Taxpayers Federation, together with the Freedom of Information and Privacy Association and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association wrote a letter to Premier Gordon Campbell November 13, 2009 calling for B.C. Ferries to be subject, once again, to the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act,” said Bader's post. “This has now been done.”
The CTF's call, however, followed a similar one by the finance ministry's comptroller general, Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland in an October report on B.C. Ferries and Translink. She recommended, “Consider making BCFS and the BC Ferry Authority, including the compensation they pay, subject to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.”
And NDP ferries critic Gary Coons has repeatedly called for B.C. Ferries to be brought back under FIPPA, as has the group Save Our Ferries. In 2003, when the government was creating the publicly-owned company out of a Crown corporation that had been covered by FIPPA, NDP critic Joy MacPhail read a letter in the legislature from then information and privacy commissioner David Loukidelis saying it was “extremely important” that the ferry authority be covered by the province's FOI laws.
Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.
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freebear
2 years ago
????????
Feather in cap a fraud?
Polakite
2 years ago
Way to go CTF!
Totally awesome!
Get BCFerries under FOI and do it now!
Van Isle
2 years ago
Do ya thinks that some heads
Do ya thinks that some heads will roll when some of the ferry shanigans sees the light of day? Nope, don't think so; Mr Hahn and his merry band will find another way to cover up their screw-ups.
Skywalker
2 years ago
CTF is as useless as...
....well I'd rather not be edited. This bunch is forever sucking up to the liberals on matters of real substance but then try to claim credit for the work of others. Typically right-wing tactic.
SharingIsGood
2 years ago
Now that they've milked the taxpayers,
the BC Liberals will probably just un-"privatize" the BC Ferry Corporation.
Premier Campbell and his bootlicks will get their directorships when the province is removed from their control.
The province will be in a sorry state, and the next bunch of Socred/BC Liberal/Reform politicians, will with plenty of help from the MSM, once again, blame the NDP for its not having overcome the inertia from years of Multinational and BC Liberal insider corporate sell-offs. It will take BC 20 or 30 years to get out of this mess, and even then, it will only be done through both, the average citizen and the corporate sector, putting their noses to the grindstone. BC will have to sell off gobs of resources while it rebuilds up its capacity to add value to those resources.
As we will soon be lacking the skilled help we will need, we will have to continue making our money from resource extraction rather than a more balanced, extraction and value-added/manufacturing economy
In the skilled trades sector of the economy, the BC Liberal government dismembered the formerly functioning apprenticeship program. The BC Libs have not done a good job of enticing industry to take on apprentices, nor maintain value-added positions. The current AVERAGE AGE of a SKILLED TRADESPERSON in BC is 56 YEARS. Doing the math, we see that the skilled baby-boomers are set to retire. When the economy picks up, we will be lacking experienced tradespeople to take the place of the boomers. The same is true with health-care and education.
The BC Liberals are a joke!
NorthVanKeith
2 years ago
CTF and FOI
Actually, the CTF has been pretty good on FOI issues. That being said, virtually everyone who presented to the special committee on FOI legislation called for this change. Interesting that they made this change now rather than waiting for the committee recommendations. Leads me to suspect the government will ignore the committee recommendations this time just as they did last time.
Polakite
2 years ago
Being that I am a Sean Holman fan... 10 days from now
May 13th, 2010 - "Darrell Evans from BC Freedom of Information and Sean Holman of Public Eye On Line discuss the issues of privacy and Freedom of Information"
Voice of BC. Watch. Learn. Advocate.
Frank
2 years ago
Polakite
It doesn't surprise me you're a Holman fan.
Gregg
2 years ago
I'm impressed
Wow, I'm impressed. If I knew that all it would take was a letter, I could have saved myself a lot of time and effort.
Gregg
Save Our Ferries