Justice Department cannot say when access to information review will be complete
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It remains unclear when a government-ordered review of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act will be complete and what will come of it.
Earlier this week, a Justice Department spokesperson told CBC that the final report would not be ready until the fall. The former minister who ordered the work had said he hoped it would be delivered this spring.
On Thursday, the department issued a statement attributed to Justice Minister Becky Druhan saying that she expected the review would be complete "in the coming months."
No further details on timing were available and Druhan would not agree to an interview.
"Many people took the time to participate in the review and we owe it to them to carefully consider their feedback before we bring legislative changes forward or commit to any specific change," the minister said in her statement. "This work is a large undertaking, and it is important we get it right for Nova Scotians."
The review was ordered by then justice minister Brad Johns in September 2023. At the time, Johns noted that the act had not had a major update since 1999.
Druhan's statement Thursday said more than 100 submissions were received during the process and they are being reviewed. That's similar information to what the Justice Department provided last October when CBC asked for a status update on the work and how it could be affected by a provincial election.
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it's problematic if there are further delays in the process because it's becoming more difficult for people to access information without submitting formal FOIPOP requests. Meanwhile, the backlog for reviews if people take issue with the result of a request continues to be years long.
Johns ordered the review two years after the Progressive Conservatives formed government for the first time under Premier Tim Houston.
In the lead-up to the 2021 election and shortly after forming government, Houston pledged to give the province's information and privacy commissioner order-making power. When he was the leader of the Official Opposition, Houston was intensely critical of the system and the need for it to be overhauled.
'A stunning and pretty unflattering reversal'
He successfully sued the former Liberal government when it refused to comply with recommendations from the then privacy commissioner about releasing the management fee paid to Bay Ferries for the operation of the ferry service between Nova Scotia and Maine.
Since then, however, Houston has followed a path similar to previous premiers who cooled to the idea of enhanced powers for the privacy commissioner once they were leading government.
Stephen McNeil signed a pledge during the 2013 provincial election saying he would overhaul the system, only to call that promise a mistake after forming government. McNeil also said he preferred doing business on the phone rather than by email to avoid conversations being swept up in access to information requests.
Chender said Houston's position on freedom of information since coming to power "has been a stunning and pretty unflattering reversal."
"In opposition we heard endlessly about a crusade to give this office order-making power, to properly fund it, to make sure that Nova Scotians knew what government is up to. And we have seen the exact opposite since this government has been in power and, you know, really to the detriment of the public."
Recent legislative changes
During the recent winter session at Province House, Houston's government put forward amendments to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act that would have given government administrators the ability to refuse requests if they determined them to be frivolous, vexatious or insufficiently specific.
The Progressive Conservatives amended those changes in the face of a torrent of criticism from the public and outgoing privacy commissioner, who noted she was not consulted during the drafting of the bill.
The amendments eased up on the requirements for specificity and said that before a government official processing a request could refuse it for being vexatious or frivolous, they must apply to the privacy commissioner for approval.
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