Letter to the President of the Treasury Board (January 2025)

January 14, 2025

The Honorable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, P.C., M.P.
President of Treasury Board
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Dear Minister:

I am writing to extend my congratulations on your appointment as President of the Treasury Board. As you take up your duties, I would like to draw your attention to my concerns regarding the federal access to information regime and urge you to take swift action to address them.

The Access to Information Act gives Canadians the right to request government records ─ which they do, in the thousands, every year ─ to find out how their tax dollars are being spent, to research and understand the past of our country, and to obtain information about how programs and services are being administered on their behalf. Throughout my time as Information Commissioner, I have seen a steady decline in the performance of the institutions subject to the Act to the point where the access to information system no longer serves the purpose for which it was originally designed. Lengthy consultations and slow response times hamper Canadians' ability to obtain timely information on government decisions and actions, thereby undermining public trust.

I remain unconvinced that the Access to Information Modernization Action Plan announced last May will result in concrete measurable improvements. So far, the Government has demonstrated a lack of will to take the necessary measures to turn things around, offering administrative changes that tinker at the edges of the system, rather than getting to the heart of what ails it.

The good news is that various studies have already identified the root causes of the system’s problems and provided recommendations to address them, including much-needed changes to the law. There is no need for additional study. The time for action has come.

The Access to Information Act is up for review in 2025. Over the coming months I intend to advocate forcefully for the necessary changes, with recommendations that build and expand on my January 2021 submission to the Government’s last review as well as on the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics’ June 2023 report on the state of Canada’s access to information system.

More specifically, I intent to continue to press for long-overdue legislative changes, including:

• broadening the application of the Act to include the offices of the Prime Minister and ministers;
• subject Cabinet confidences to the Act;
• limit the application of certain exemptions, such as section 21, which relates to advice and recommendations and add a public interest override provision; and
• set out a maximum length of time for consultations needed to respond to access requests.

I also plan to continue to advocate for an independent funding mechanism for my office, similar to the models under which other Agents of Parliament operate. Such a funding model would both reflect my independence as an Agent of Parliament, and align my annual budget with my workload, enabling me to be more efficient in assigning and investigating complaints. Your support in advancing this change is of the utmost importance.

I remain available to meet with you to discuss any of the points I have raised in this letter or any other topics you may wish to address.

Sincerely,

Caroline Maynard
Information Commissioner of Canada

c.c.: Mr. Bill Matthews, Secretary of the Treasury Board