New Westminster MLA Dawn Black has witnessed problems for people trying to access information at both the federal and provincial levels and would like to see improved access for all.

Black, who previously served as the member of Parliament for New Westminster-Coquitlam, noted that a recent audit gave British Columbia a failing mark when it comes to access to information.

"A D+, that is done by a national news organization," she said. "We do get people who come in here (constituency office) and ask for help with FOI requests. It's something we are familiar with and know how difficult it can be."

The Canadian Newspaper Association recently released the findings of its annual audit of Canadians' access to government-held information. British Columbia and Ontario shared the lowest ranking.

Black said the B.C. Liberals pledged to have the most open and accessible government in Canada, but that hasn't happened.

"They have gone backwards and made it more difficult," she said.

The real irony, said Black, is the Liberals were the single biggest seeker of Freedom of Information requests while they were in opposition in Victoria. She noted that Premier Gordon Campbell once said that when government does its business behind closed doors, people will invariably believe it has something to hide.

Having served as the NDP's defence critic in Ottawa, Black has been closely watching issues regarding access to information in the nation's capital and hasn't been impressed with what she's seen.

"All democracies are built on the basis of openness and transparency," said John Hinds, the Canadian Newspaper Association's president and CEO. "This year's audit shows us that the system in Canada continues to be under strain, especially at the federal level. The concept of freedom of information has been eroded."

According to the association, nearly half of the 315 formal requests to municipal, provincial and federal governments seeking records such as pandemic flu plans, trip expenses for senior officials and public land transactions were met with denials, fees and time delays reaching as long as half a year. It noted that the federal requests often failed to respond within the legislated 30-day deadline and sometimes demanded dramatic fees to release records.

"At the federal, what we're seeing is (government) performances declining year over year, not getting better," said Suzanne Legault, interim federal information commissioner.

Her recent report to Parliament warned that Canadians' right of access is "at risk of being totally obliterated because delays threaten to render the entire access regime irrelevant."

tmcmanus@royalcityrecord.com