Province urged to hit public with information fees

The New Brunswick government is being urged to charge citizens fees to request public information and consider hitting them with new costs to search for documents.

Government Services Minister Ed Doherty released the report on the Right to Information and Protection of Privacy Act on Friday, including 14 recommendations.

Doherty said in a statement the provincial government will consider the recommendations made in the report.

"Our government is committed to fostering a culture of openness and transparency in New Brunswick's public sector," Doherty said.

The report made many recommendations based on feedback received by the provincial government during a public review.

"Public bodies were almost unanimous in their desire to apply fees to RTI requests," the report said.

The minister's report didrecommendthe government "evaluate the potential re-instatement of fees" for RTI requests.

The report also said municipalities would like the ability to charge fees for information requests coming from citizens.

The report said the issue of fees was a major theme with different groups holding opposing viewpoints.

"Public bodies are struggling to adapt to the increasing number and scope of RTI requests, and they believe that fees will help address this issue," the report said.

"The public believes that more government information should be accessible and that the information should be made available free of charge and in a more timely manner."

The David Alward government terminated the $5 fee on information requests in 2011.

The report indicated that the provincial government paid $680,000 to process RTI requests in 2013-14. It also noted that two requests covering a power outage cost roughly $50,000 to process.

The report also pointed out that public bodies, which are covered by the act, also suggested imposing new fees on citizens to search and copy documents.

For instance, the report said public bodies argued that fees could be applied for searching for documents or copy public documents. The public bodies also suggested bureaucrats givecitizens estimates on how much it would cost to process a request and then collect half of the fee upfront.

There were 581 information requests made to provincial departments in 2013-14, up from 462 in 2012-13.

The number of RTIs has increased in recent years but the report said New Brunswick "continues to have the lowest number of RTI requests per capita in Canada."