NB Liquor's legal threat an attempt to 'muzzle' her, Bertrand says

New Brunswick's access to information commissioner says the Liberal government should tell NB Liquor to follow the province's right to information law.

Commissioner Anne Bertrand said the threat of a lawsuit from NB Liquor was an attempt to "muzzle" her from talking about her report.

"I have not been more empowered to do my job since being threatened to say nothing," Bertrand said in an interview with CBC News, the first she's given since receiving the legal threat.

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In an emailed statement, Finance Minister Cathy Rogers, who is responsible for NB Liquor, said government is "concerned about this situation" and doesn't want to see the "disagreement" resolved in the courts.

But Rogers didn't say whether she will order NB Liquor to drop its lawsuit threat or follow Bertrand's recommendations.

Bertrand said she's surprised government hasn't publicly weighed in on her scathing report, which concludes the public body "considered itself above the law" in handling a routine right to information request from CBC News.

She said government should get involved if it values the public's right to information.

"Government must step up," Bertrand said.

"It must act because the public has found it to be unacceptable."

Officials at NB Liquor maintain that they followed the law.

A 'culture of secrecy'

Bertrand's report, released last month, details a "culture of secrecy" at NB Liquor, where right to information requests are treated as "an unnecessary inconvenience or irritant."

She suggested that officials at NB Liquor never conducted a thorough search for records that would explain why the Crown corporation decided to continue its growler beer pilot program.

NB Liquor refused access to those records, saying there are too many files and releasing them would harm "third party business interests."

"At the heart of it, it's the principle of the matter," Bertrand said in the interview.

"If NB Liquor doesn't want to indicate, share and communicate how they made that decision, what else do they not want to share with the public?"

NB Liquor missed deadline

Officials at NB Liquor disagreed with Bertrand's findings, arguing the public body did everything required of it under the law.

"Trying to characterize our actions as being arrogant or disinterested or not acting in good faith is, I think, completely unfair," president and CEO Brian Harriman said in an interview last month.

NB Liquor has spent at least $6,000 so far on outside legal counsel to challenge Bertrand and her recommendations.

A few days after her report was released, the Crown corporation sent her a letter threatening to sue her for "defamatory comments" and accusing her of acting in "bad faith."

Information Morning - Fredericton21:30Anne Bertrand

Anne Bertrand

The Right to Information and Protection of Privacy Act protects independent officers of the Legislature from legal action, unless it can be proven they were acting in "bad faith."

On Wednesday, NB Liquor spokesman Mark Barbour declined further comment on the matter.

He said NB Liquor is preparing a letter to send to CBC News and Bertrand about how to resolve the case.

He did not say whether NB Liquor will adopt Bertrand's recommendations, which include developing protocol for documenting the public body's decisions.

NB Liquor missed an Oct. 7 deadline to say whether it will accept those recommendations, meaning the public body is now considered to have rejected them.

CBC News now has the power to refer the case to a Court of Queen's Bench judge.

'Publicly attacked'

Bertrand cancelled earlier interviews with CBC News after receiving the legal threat from NB Liquor.

She said she decided to wait to see if NB Liquor would accept her recommendations.

"NB Liquor could still have decided, despite all the shenanigans, to follow the recommendations," she said.

The legal threat marked the first time that Bertrand felt her office was "publicly attacked for doing our work."

She stands by her findings in the report and said her office treated it like any other investigation.

"When I'm served with a threat, I don't like it," Bertrand said.

"Does it stop me from doing my work? Absolutely not. If and when they choose to take me to court, obviously I will have to act on that."

How government handles the case, she said, will show how committed it is to access to information.

The Liberal government will table changes to the province's right to information legislation this fall, but have not said what those changes will be.

One cabinet minister, Victor Boudreau, has publicly questioned the value of right to information, suggesting the money could be better spent elsewhere.

NB Liquor's Harriman has also questioned the value of the current right to information legislation, describing it as a "financial burden."

"I love getting criticism about the fees and the financial burden that the act represents because I completely disagree with that comment," Bertrand said.