Under Mike Harcourt’s NDP government in 1993, British Columbia got a North America-leading freedom of information and protection of privacy law.
BC FIPA’s Jason Woywada (Twitter)
Now it’s 2021 and John Horgan’s NDP government is trying to take the free out of freedom of information with Bill 22.
Jason Woywada, executive director of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, said British Columbians need more transparency not less. The plan to charge a $25 fee is only the tip of the iceberg, more than four years after the NDP promised to rejuvenate the FOI system that suffered under 16 years of BC Liberal rule.
“The system, as bad as it was, and as it was falling behind, was a problem,” Woywada told theBreaker.news Podcast host Bob Mackin. “The steps that they are taking are increasing the power distance from people to their government and are increasing the friction that people will have to gain basic access to information from the government.”
On this edition of theBreaker.news Podcast, Woywada discusses the Transparency Matters campaign to oppose Bill 22. Environmental protection charities and construction industry associations that are normally at odds with each other have even united under the BC FIPA-led coalition.
“Transparency matters to everyone,” Woywada said. “This isn’t just a matter for journalists and media, that access to information allows us in a democracy to make informed decisions, and that it’s important for all of us to gain access to information to make those informed decisions at the ballot box and to trust the decisions that government is making.”
Listen to the full interview with Woywada and find out how you can tell the NDP to scrap Bill 22. Plus commentary and Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines.
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