Ottawa — A gaping loophole that could be allowing federal cabinet ministers to enjoy lavish meals, luxurious travel and other perks without scrutiny should be closed, Canada's information commissioner says.
John Reid warned that Treasury Board regulations changed 18 months ago which exempt ministers from disclosing travel and hospitality details could also lead to large swaths of government information being blocked from public view.
"What we're really talking about is the potential for one great big hell of a loophole in the (Access to Information) Act," Mr. Reid said. "The whole principle is that any document that is in a minister's office — it doesn't exist for the purpose of the Act."
Currently, people filing access requests to find out what a minister has spent on hospitality or travel are guaranteed only the total sum spent — not a breakdown with receipts, as was the practice before Treasury Board made the changes.
Worse, Mr. Reid said, under the changes, various departmental documents could also be kept in ministers' offices and out of the reach of Access to Information requests.
Some key cases set to start next month could clarify the issue by forcing the courts to decide whether or not minister's offices and the prime minister's office should be subject to Access to Information.
In a case known as "M5," the government is challenging a subpoena from Mr. Reid's office demanding records of notes taken by aides to former defence minister Art Eggleton.
The government has refused to cough up the documents, arguing the minister and his so-called exempt staff — political aides who are not part of the public service — do not form part of the government.
At stake is the question of whether, as the government will argue, ministers preside over their departments but do not "make decisions or hold government documents," Mr. Reid said. "If (the government) were to be able to say that a minister's office, by definition, cannot contain government records, you can imagine how large minister's offices would become.
"The Treasury Board regs are part of that. They're saying ministers don't have to give (documents)."
In a related case also due to start next month, Mr. Reid is seeking copies of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's agendas, after the prime minister's office failed to grant him access in 2000.
Mr. Reid said he's fighting off an assault on freedom of information at both the political level, in the courts, and at the bureaucratic level, for example, through Treasury Board.
"It's a two-pronged attack," he said. "You've got the prime minister, which is pretty political, and you've got the bureaucracy, which is pretty bureaucratic, both of them moving in to attempt to ensure that the Act is restricted significantly."
Officials in the prime minister's office said last week they couldn't comment on the cases while they are before the courts.
Liberal MP John Bryden says it's not enough to fight for access to ministers' spending in court; the legislation must be changed.
He said he's planning to reintroduce a private member's bill this fall to amend the Access to Information Act, and will include an amendment aimed at ministers and their staff.
"Transparency, as we saw with Mr. Radwanski is a great discipline," he said. "We are entitled to see what's happening because the expense account are a good indication of the management style of the person."
Former privacy commissioner George Radwanski resigned in June amid controversy over his expenses.
Mr. Bryden's earlier bill was defeated after the Justice Department circulated a memo citing several flaws. He says he's fixed them now.
