Court rules FOI laws still apply - TheChronicleHerald.ca

Court rules FOI laws still apply

Case involved development authority's refusal to provide information

By JEFFREY SIMPSON Staff Reporter

Fri. Nov 28 - 5:54 AM

Arm's-length government agencies cannot prevent the public from prying into their business by claiming to be exempt from freedom of information laws, Nova Scotia Supreme Court decided this week.

The ruling involved the South West Shore Development Authority, which had refused to release information that a Shelburne-area man had requested about how it was spending money. The authority argued it was outside the jurisdiction of freedom of information laws.

The man, Adelard Cayer, took the authority to court.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court handed down its decision, saying that the authority is an agency of the municipal government, which appoints its members and supports its operations financially. And since municipalities are subject to freedom of information laws, so are the agencies they establish and fund.

"If they're using our money, we have a right to find enough information from them to decide whether or not they're doing what we want them to do," said Darce Fardy, who founded the Right to Know Coalition after retiring in 2006 as the province's review officer for the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

"This business of trying to do it in secret is just not on."

 

Full Article: <http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1092940.html>