What to share with the public, and how to share it: Where the parties stand on transparency

Liberal and Progressive Conservative governments in New Brunswick have both been criticized for transparency and public accountabilityissues.

New Brunswick's Right to Information Act has been ranked as one of the weakestin the country in a recent national survey.

This spring, New Brunswick's ombud said she agrees with that survey, and the act needs to be improved.

As the provincial election campaign reaches its final days, CBC New Brunswick asked leaders of the three main parties where they stand on the subject.

What do the parties promise?

Liberal Leader Susan Holt and Green Party Leader David Coon provided interviews on the subject. Their platforms both promise amendments to right-to-informationlegislation and makinginformation more accessible.

Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs's platform does not address transparency. He was unavailable for an interview onthe subject, and did not answerquestions from CBC News by email. But he did answer questions at a scrum on the campaign trail Friday.

Higgs said his days in office so far showhe has been transparent "in terms of what we provided for information, answers to questions, but certainly the balanced budget process that we have, the quarterly reports that are put out every year that we started many years ago."

WATCH | 'I think it's important that we all have that opportunity to talk,' says Higgs:

Higgs answers questions on government transparency

4 days ago

Duration 1:44

CBC New Brunswick asked each of the main party leaders what their approach to government transparency would be, if elected. Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs pointed to his governments history.

He said that he would not discouragehis candidates, MLAs or ministers from speaking tomedia, but said the best way to reach the public is face to face.

"There is a focus to knock on doors. There is a focus to be available to the public in a way that's in the community where they're running," he said.

Holt said she promises to "overhaul" the Right to Information and Privacy Protection Act to provide more access to public documents. She also promises to make all government information public by default, and create open data portals so people "shouldn't have to ask for" information.

She also committed to no longer allowing out-of-province political donations, and amendingthe so-called whistleblower act to add more protections to people speaking out about government corruption.

WATCH | How civil servants factor into Holt's transparency promises:

Holt on how she would improve government transparency

4 days ago

Duration 2:48

CBC New Brunswick asked each of the main party leaders what their approach to government transparency would be, if elected. Liberal Leader Susan Holt touched on right-to-information legislation and availability to the media.

Holt also committed to making public servants available to answer media questions, because they are the experts on many issues in government.

Green Party Leader David Coon said decades ago, it was a regular occurrence for civil servants and politicians to speak openly to media. In the last several terms, he saidthatinformation is increasingly filtered through communications officers to control the message.

"The control over information is so tight now because governments, both liberals and conservatives, are so frightened that somehow the information is going to make them look bad, or that their political opponents in the opposition may seize on it," he said.

"Yougot to grow up. Yougot to have some courage and a spine and say, look, people need to know. We have incredible experts in our public service, and the journalists should be able to go to them and interview them,and present that interview and the results to to the public."

WATCH | 'You got to grow up. You got to have some courage, a spine,' says Coon on government transparency:

Coon on how he would improve government transparency

4 days ago

Duration 3:30

CBC New Brunswick asked each of the main party leaders what their approach to government transparency would be, if elected. Green Leader David Coon touched on whistleblower legislation and availability to the media.

Coon said he commits toupdating the Right to Information Act, the whistleblower act and to change the culture of government to be more open.

Holt said the role of a communication officer is to facilitate communication between a minister or a civil servant and media, and they should not be used to shieldthem from accountability.

"That's how the public has felt, is that there's gatekeeping. We've seen that the public trusts less and less because communications are more controlled," she said.

"That's not something that a Holt government is going to do. We are committed to authentic communications, open and accessible elected officials."

In 2017, under Liberal Premier Brian Gallant, the province was criticized for changes to right-to-informationlegislation, which included an increase of wait times to 30 business days, instead of the 30 calendar days.It also added a requirement for the act to be reviewed every four years.

In 2021, under Higgs, the province was criticized for proposedchanges to give ministers the power to direct how departments process requests. The proposed changes would also empower a minister to decide whether the rules "may apply differently in different circumstances."

Those amendments passed second reading but did not receive royal assent before the election.