FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAWS

The CTF has both played champion and defender of Freedom of Information (FOI) laws. The public has a right to know how their dollars are being spent and from its inception the CTF has fought to pry the closed doors of government open.

Major petition drives in 1990 in both Saskatchewan and Alberta eventually led to the implementation of laws in those two provinces. Since that time the CTF has participated in every opportunity to make the legislation more open and accessible. In British Columbia and Manitoba the CTF was instrumental in both forming and maintaining coalitions that successfully staved off proposed changes that would have weakened laws.

Predictably, politicians are big fans of access to government information – right up until they get into government! Each year the CTF works with a cross-section of groups in the provinces and federally to mark “Right to Know Week” promoting the importance of access laws. The CTF and its offices are major users of FOI. Many of the waste stories documented by the CTF over the years have come about as a result of FOI requests made to government.