Burning tires was a closed-door decision

BY BRIAN FLINN,

TRANSCONTINENTAL MEDIA
The Nova Scotia Business Journal

08/11/07

The province's recycling agency should obey the Freedom of Information Act, the legislature's public accounts committee said Wednesday. The committee voted to ask the Tory cabinet to force the Resource Recovery Fund Board to share information in accordance with the act. MLA Graham Steele said NDP researchers have requested documents connected to tire burning, and the board refused.

"It is simply unacceptable in this day and age that a public agency like the Resource Recovery Fund Board would be refusing to release information - particularly on a controversial issue like tire burning - on the pretext that they're not subject to Freedom of Information," Steele said.

Liberal MLA Keith Colwell said any agency that's connected to the government and receives public funding should be subject to the act.

RRFB chief executive Bill Ring said he has never sought definitive legal advice on Freedom of Information, because it hasn't been an issue. "We've gotten conflicting views from counsel on that, and just have not ever clarified that because we have not had any requests we have had to deal with," he said.

Ring said the agency tries to be "as helpful and open as possible," but disagreements on the release of information can arise. They are settled on the board's terms, rather than through the Freedom of Information review office. – The Daily News

http://www.novascotiabusinessjournal.com/index.cfm?sid=78633&sc=107