John Hopkins-Hill
Peculiar Ponderings
Like any journalist worth his or her salt, I have a love-hate relationship with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) Act and similar legislation.
While I understand it protects individuals and organizations from all kinds of different violations of privacy, think medical records, contract negotiations and so on, it also makes finding out the important information related to a topic or story harder to access than sometimes feels necessary.
One of the most common instances where I run into these issues is in dealing with the Town of Hinton. Since I’ve been covering council, there have been dozens of in camera, behind closed doors, items discussed at regular council and standing committee meetings that I, and by extension the general public, know absolutely nothing about.
There are a variety of reasons for council to discuss topics in camera, and none of them are nefarious. Some of the most common or well known are personnel issues and contract negotiations.
It’s only logical that if an employee is under review, being reprimanded or otherwise discussed it shouldn’t be public information. That’s an issue between the employee and employer, and really none of my business.
By the same token, contract negotiations being held in private also makes sense. If municipalities were forced to disclose all discussions related to a new contract, the other party would well and truly hold all the cards. The same way you don’t announce to a car salesman your maximum budget the moment you walk on the lot, why would a municipality or other public body want to tip their hand? As a taxpayer, it’s reassuring that someone is at least trying to get value for money.
My issue is not the fact I can’t get details on these items, but that I can’t even find out what they are.
Let me give you an example.
At the Sept. 12 standing committee meeting, council discussed four items in camera. Three of those items were deliberative and one was a personnel matter.
That’s all the information that was released.
Let’s now take a look at the Edmonton council minutes for their Sept. 12 and 13 meeting. It’s a little bit different, they refer to these items as private reports rather than in camera items, but the same laws apply.
Edmonton actually had nine items discussed in private on that agenda, but the information the agenda package contained is very different.
“Northlands Update – Northlands Site Negotiations” reads the title of one item in Edmonton. Clearly, they’re discussing the Northlands site. No idea what aspects of the site are being negotiated, but at least the public knows in broad terms what is happening.
In Hinton, we don’t get those details. Three items from the Hinton agenda on Sept. 12 simply said “Deliberative (FOIP)” and the other said “Personnel Matter (FOIP)”. What topic is so secret that the public cannot even know what it is?
I understand whatever was deliberated had to be done in camera, and I’m not saying there is anything off or unusual about it, but I would love to see the Town of Hinton be just a little more transparent.
Obviously, there are still cases where any information is too much – that Edmonton meeting I just mentioned had at least two items that would not look out of place on a Hinton agenda – but I can’t help but feel like letting the public know, at least in a broad sense, what is up for discussion would be a great thing.
Here’s hoping a new council and a new CAO gives everyone a chance to hit the reset button and start being more open, if only because it’ll make my job easier.