Oh, for the love of Mutt:
OTTAWA - Federal ministers have been warned by their boss against subverting Canada's freedom-of-information law after a political aide at Public Works ordered a sensitive document withheld from a media requester.
"Obviously, around Access to Information, due diligence is and should be done by public servants and not political staff," Dimitri Soudas, spokesman for the prime minister, said in an interview Monday.
"The process . . . should be followed and respected by all. . . . It applies to everybody across government (including) political offices."
But ... but ... but ... they were only trying to be helpful:
The news agency requested the report, an accounting of the government's real-estate portfolio, under the Access to Information Act and duly paid photocopy fees of $27.40...
Margaux Stastny also said Togneri was not trying to prevent release of the report, only to save the requester photocopy fees. She said Togneri merely wanted to offer the requester the choice between 30 free pages or the cost of photocopying 137 pages.
The Canadian Press was never offered the choice and, in any case, had already paid the fee.
The Stephen Harper Party of Canada -- selflessly defending the budgets of news services, $27.40 at a time.
4 comments:
"wringing their hands"
Yup. That pretty much captures the behaviour of senior government officials - when they aren't sitting on them, that is.
Sooey, dont' confuse senior government officials with party hacks.
Senior catamite Soudas had to lay down the law. Heh. I'm sure some ears are still ringing from the shrill scolding.
It would be charitable to confuse senior government officials with party hacks. At least party hacks have a reason to be complete dicks.
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