FOI Audit

PEI wants more than $1,000 for snow-removal documents

November 27, 2015

The winter of 2015 was one for the record books in the Maritimes, and especially in Prince Edward Island; at one point there was so much snow the province seemed to almost vanish in satellite images. The 2015 FOI Audit wanted to know how much all that snow cost to plow aside and haul away, so [...]

Oil-price impact on Saskatchewan budget a secret

November 25, 2015

In Saskatchewan, not a single word of records on the effect of lower oil prices on the provincial budget could be released to the public. The request was one reason the province got a C in this year's Newspapers Canada FOI Audit. [...]

Pothole reports in Fredericton: 2015 FOI Audit

November 23, 2015

For most Canadians, potholes are just part of life. The 2015 Newspapers Canada FOI Audit asked Fredericton for reports from residents on the springtime hazard. [...]

NWT Education Contracts, data printed to paper

November 19, 2015

The 2015 Newspapers Canada FOI Audit asked three departments in every province and territory for an electronic, machine-readable file of all contracts valued at $10,000 or more awarded by tender or RFP during the most recently completed fiscal year. While the open data wave is washing across the [...]

Alberta Education’s school planning secrets

November 16, 2015

The 2015 Newspapers Canada FOI audit asked Alberta Education for “records that would indicated the province’s priorities for school construction, repair and revitalization for the 2015-16 budget year. After some clarifications, the department took 65 days to release records with more [...]

Ontario Transportation ministry wants $580 for contract data

November 9, 2015

As the 2015 Newspapers Canada FOI audit notes, the Ontario government is once again the king of the mountain when it comes to fees. The Ministry of Transportation quoted a fee of $580 to provide a machine-readable file of contracts of $10,000 or more. This is the same information that every federal [...]

National Defence releases a scan of a printout of a spreadsheet

November 4, 2015

The Newspapers Canada FOI audit asked each of the federal departments and agencies for an electronic file of the names, salary ranges and job classifications of all employees with a media relations or public information function; this is information that is considered public under the Privacy Act. [...]

Letters to and from the mayor of Calgary

November 3, 2015

We’re publishing records released by governments across Canada as part of the 2015 Newspapers Canada freedom of information audit. The City of Calgary released in full copies of correspondence between the mayor and the province in 2014 on provincial funding for municipal programs. From [...]

B.C. “On the Move” records

October 29, 2015

Records released by B.C. Government Communications and Public Engagement in response to a request for “briefing notes and background materials prepared for Transportation minister Todd Stone on the B.C. on the Move transportation plan.” The request was submitted to the transportation [...]

Privy Council Office, briefings to PM on Alberta NDP win

October 28, 2015

The federal Privy Council Office is the prime minister’s department. It took 33 days to release these heavily redacted records in response for a request for all briefing notes, backgrounders and similar materials prepared for Stephen Harper on the election of the NDP government in [...]

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