Congratulations should go to Vancouver Courier reporter Bob Mackin for a big win over Vancouver City Hall’s secret keepers via the Freedom of Information commissioner. Congratulations, Bob – and thank you on behalf of taxpayers.
An FOI request filed Jan. 16, 2013 sought the names of all bidders and the dollar values of their bids. When city hall responded Feb. 28, 2013, it refused to release any information.
After a complaint to the OIPC, city hall released the names of the companies on July 29, 2013, but kept the dollar values of their bids secret. That document showed the losing bidders were IPS Group Inc., AlertPay Inc., Park Mobile USA Inc. and QuickPay Corp.
Mackin kept appealing and, finally, transparency prevailed:
Lemiski noted that city hall’s December 2013 written submissions to the OIPC inquiry did not include a copy of the tendering document or civic procurement policies and procedures. There was also no express agreement or pledge to keep bidders’ information confidential. None of the third parties filed submissions.
Lemiski’s order said city hall failed to show how disclosing the bidding information would cause any of the parties financial loss, because the contract winner was already chosen.
“In a rapidly changing era of technology, I fail to see how knowing this information could materially affect bidding three years later,” Lemiski wrote.
The OIPC order is the latest blow to city hall, which is under fire for increasing secrecy nearly six years after Mayor Gregor Robertson promised otherwise. At his December 2008 swearing-in, Robertson pledged: “I will not let you down on making city hall more open and accountable.”
Newspapers Canada’s 2014 National FOI Audit gave City of Vancouver a C overall, but an F for the slow response times.
FOI is a key tool we use here at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation to hold government to account for how they spend our money. Vancouver City Hall, for all their pleasant talk about open government, has an abysmal track record when it comes to FOI. Hopefully this lashing will smarten them up.
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