The provincial government has no plans to begin handling freedom of information requests the way BC Ferries does, the minister responsible said following a report today from the Information and Privacy Commissioner.

“I thank the privacy commissioner for her report and plan to review it in depth over the coming days," labour, citizens' services and open government minister Stephanie Cadieux said in an emailed statement about commissioner Elizabeth Denham's report on BC Ferries practice of releasing FOI documents publicly at the same time as giving them to the person who asked for them.

"I can say the province has no plans to implement simultaneous release," she said. "Instead, we are working towards proactive and routine release of government documents and the privacy commissioner’s report will help inform our policy.”

BC Ferries came back under the province's FOI laws in October, 2010, after seven years being exempt. The publicly-owned company tracks FOI requests on a public website and releases records to both the public and the requester at the same time.

Denham received complaints about the practice, including from the advocacy group Freedom of Information and Privacy Association.

BC Ferries' process is legal but "frustrates the purpose of access to information laws," she said today. "I maintain that it is in the public interest to protect the ability of mainstream media to identify issues and instigate public dialogue in the first place," she said.

Sharing records before a journalist has a chance to report on them "impairs the information-gathering function of the media and other groups," she said.

She recommended releasing records to the requester 24 hours before they are broadly released.

“We are disappointed that the Commissioner has only given a slap on the wrist and a flabby recommendation to BC Ferries for running a scheme she says frustrates the very purpose of the law,” said FIPA's executive director Vincent Gogolek said in a press release. “BC Ferries has a duty to assist requesters and we don’t see how a system designed to frustrate requesters can comply with the law.”

A BC Ferries spokesperson said the company is reviewing the report and will not be commenting on it publicly today.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.