Freedom of Information and Government Accountability

For a democracy to function properly and to build public trust, the government needs to be accountable to the people. Part of being accountable means the government needs to be transparent and not afraid of public scrutiny. Over the years we have seen a trend with governments causing long delays or even straight censoring FOI requests with an unnecessary amount of redactions and causing long delays which most often end up turning into a complaint to the Privacy Commissioners Office..

Our Idea:

  • Run a complete audit across all government ministries and institutions: Over the years the government has become massively inflated and reaching deeper into taxpayers pockets to fund core projects but also special pet projects disguised as essential for core services. A lot of this spending has gone unchecked and needs to be found and cut. A real time public facing spending transparency tool needs to be implemented to show where the money it going when it leaves the government account. Companies and organizations that receive government funding will be required to keep highly detailed tracking when they spend the money they received from the government. A digital ledger something like the blockchain will be explored. An example of information that will be required is the the transaction date and time. Which department it was sent to and how that department spent the money. There will be no blanket vague spending tracking such as “HR” or “administration.” Details of what exactly that money funded and will need to be disclosed to the government.
  • Release all BC Carbon Tax data: British Columbians have a right to know after 16 years how the total amount of money government has taken from British Columbians in carbon tax and clean fuel tax. They also deserve a full audit to know where all that money has been spent and pull the curtains back on the “green initiative” projects program receiving the majority of the money.
  • Remove the fees for FOI requests: Currently the fees are preventing members of the public from requesting. By removing the fees it allows individuals from all income levels to submit request for public documents. Sometimes the fees can run into the thousands when trying to research one thing and dozens and dozens of requests need to be made for other referenced documents or topics. Time line: This could be implemented immediately.
  • Itineraries: The Premier and cabinet ministers should be required to post their public appearance schedules in a convenient place for all British Columbians to view on demand such as their page on the government website. This would take less than one week to add to the government website. Timeline: It can be automated to pull straight from the outlook calendar or what ever they use to keep track of their public appearances.
  • Modernize the way the government releases publicly owned information. Pro actively releasing documents can save time and money not only for the government but will provide a benefit to B.C. citizens and media groups as well. A new Freedom of Information framework is needed in this digital age. Government should be prioritizing large government projects and public interest topics to be released even if no one has asked for it yet. With a searchable database accessible to the current public facing website. Consequences to government when necessary. Timeline: prioritizing large government projects and public interest topics can be implemented immediately.
  • Modernize code of conduct for politicians expanding to also include social media use. There’s a clear rise in government elected officials that have become voter blocking fanatic’s and blocking anyone that has a different opinion or turns off comment in an attempt to reduce public scrutiny. If the government or politicians are afraid to be publicly scrutinized. What ever the government is doing is probably not in the best interest of the public. For example: Elected officials and politicians shouldn’t be blocking people on their government messaging social media accounts or limiting discussion also know as debates by turning off comments. This would apply to all levels of government in British Columbia.
  • Lobbyist transparency: All discussions with lobbyist groups are required to be live streamed and remain available after the stream for later viewing.
  • Axe “General Revenue”: This category of revenue generation has been abused by all types of governments that have been able to use it. Everything should have an actual category to show where that money came from and what it was for. This will make it easier to track the the outflow of money to be held accountable to the taxpayers.