Freedom of information: Little information and it isn't free, either, Government accused of stonewalling legitimate requests

Darcy Henton, February 28, 2008, The Edmonton Journal -- Liberal Leader Kevin Taft says the province's freedom of information system is corrupted by political meddling designed to protect "the butts" of government politicians.

Responding to complaints from environmental activist Martha Kostuch, who has been stymied in her efforts to see Alberta's oilsands development strategy, Taft said the system is failing Albertans.

"The freedom of information process in Alberta is highly politicized," he said. "The Tories like to pretend they're not meddling, but they do meddle. There's delays, there's interventions, there's a kind of corruption of the whole system."

He compared the freedom of information system to the Conservatives' appointments of election returning officers, where the goal is "to cover the butts of the home team as much as you can."

Kostuch said the government's response to her Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy request was to heavily censor all but four of the 78 pages of documents it released.

The documents show some of the benefits of oilsands development, but the bulk of the challenges faced in oilsands development have been deleted because those sections are advice to a cabinet minister, she said.

She wonders if the fact the release was made during the provincial election played a role in the decision to "sever" the information she requested.

Liberal energy critic Hugh MacDonald said he was also frustrated in his efforts to obtain the release of royalty rate documents from the same department.

"It's called the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, but the only thing the government is doing is protecting its privacy," he said.

The Journal also received heavily-censored documents when it requested information related to Alberta Energy's internal royalty review.

Alberta Energy spokesman Jason Chance denies politics is involved in the process.

"The request is processed at an administrative and bureaucratic level -- not at a political level," he said.

"The decision relating to what information is withheld is done at an administrative level."

He said the information released to Kostuch was severed because it related to personal information and advice from an official.

The province was chastised by Alberta's privacy commissioner last June for "deliberately and for political purposes" withholding information about the use of government aircraft until after the 2004 election.

The Journal requested the government's flight logs in June 2004, and the privacy commissioner ruled the logs should have been released before then-premier Ralph Klein called the election. But Alberta Infrastructure dealyed the release of the flight logs by another 30 days -- an action the commissioner later ruled was not justified.

Kostuch, who is suffering from a terminal illness, said Albertans own the resources and have a right to know how the government plans to develop them.

"The oilsands are the largest development happening anywhere in the world," she said. "We as Albertans own the resource. We should be telling our government how they should be developed and voting in people that will represent the interests of Albertans."

NDP Leader Brian Mason said Premier Ed Stelmach's strategy for development of the oilsands appears to be designed in the interests of multinational energy companies.

"It really seems to me the government plan for tarsands development is a fundamental public issue in this election and the fact that they are once again hiding their plans is clear evidence the government is transparent as a slab of granite," he said.

Jessica Ernst, a southern Alberta landowner and oilpatch consultant, said the Freedom of Information laws aren't working, but it's not the legislation that's at fault. It's the people who are supposed to follow the rules, she said.

Ernst, who claims her water well was contaminated as a result of a nearby coalbed methane development, has been trying to gain access to public documents showing the results of Alberta Environment tests on her water.

"Almost one year later and after spending $1,500, I am still missing most of the data," she said.