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The federal Public Works department kept documents secret about an Ottawa building where concerns have been raised about employees being exposed to asbestos, newly released documents show.
The documents about health and safety concerns at the Canada Revenue Agency building on Heron Road were finally released after a year-long battle with the federal information watchdog that resulted in the department agreeing to change the way it hands out documents held by private companies contracted to manage federal buildings.
It’s unclear, however, whether those new rules for handling access to information requests will mean greater access to documents from building managers, a long-running issue at the department.
The details of the investigation by Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault are outlined in November briefing notes to Public Works Minister Diane Finley and her deputy minister obtained by the Citizen under the access to information law.
Legault’s office declined to comment on its investigation, saying it would only do so once it reported on the issue in an upcoming report to Parliament. Public Works has not responded to questions posed to it Wednesday.
The information battle started in 2012 when Public Works officials refused to provide all the documents that building manager SNC-Lavalin had provided the department regarding air quality testing at the CRA tax centre at 875 Heron Rd.
The testing had been ordered in 2008 after a CRA employee filed a health and safety complaint.
Public Works first handed over 12 of 39 pages the company provided; Legault’s office forced them to hand over 25 additional pages, but the department refused to provide a two-page letter, written in April 2008, that a sub-contractor gave to SNC-Lavalin.
Departments can only release documents through the access to information law that are deemed to be under their control. In this case, Public Works argued it didn’t have control of documents held by a third party.
“The test to establish control requires that a senior official can reasonably expect to be entitled to be provided with a copy of a record; it is not limited to physical control,” Legault wrote in an April 24, 2014 letter to Finley.
Legault argued the department had a “contractual right” to get the records from SNC-Lavalin, and had taken a narrow view of “control” that ran counter to a 2011 Supreme Court of Canada decision outlining what documents federal departments were required to provide. Legault also pointed to a 2011 forensic audit, which the government ordered, that outlined spending problems at federal buildings managed by SNC-Lavalin.
“I am concerned that records held by contractors acting on behalf of (Public Works) in the context of the (alternative forms of delivery) initiative in the (real property branch) will not be routinely retrieved and processed,” Legault wrote in her April letter.
“This would significantly undermine the principle of accountability and transparency.”
A five-month departmental review prompted by Legault’s concerns ended with Public Works officials recommending “slight modifications” to rules and procedures around access to information. While the department expanded its definition of control, documents provided to Finley say it will still decide what to release under the access to information law on a case-by-case basis — something Legault pinpointed as a problem.
jpress@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/jpress
查看原文...
The documents about health and safety concerns at the Canada Revenue Agency building on Heron Road were finally released after a year-long battle with the federal information watchdog that resulted in the department agreeing to change the way it hands out documents held by private companies contracted to manage federal buildings.
It’s unclear, however, whether those new rules for handling access to information requests will mean greater access to documents from building managers, a long-running issue at the department.
The details of the investigation by Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault are outlined in November briefing notes to Public Works Minister Diane Finley and her deputy minister obtained by the Citizen under the access to information law.
Legault’s office declined to comment on its investigation, saying it would only do so once it reported on the issue in an upcoming report to Parliament. Public Works has not responded to questions posed to it Wednesday.
The information battle started in 2012 when Public Works officials refused to provide all the documents that building manager SNC-Lavalin had provided the department regarding air quality testing at the CRA tax centre at 875 Heron Rd.
The testing had been ordered in 2008 after a CRA employee filed a health and safety complaint.
Public Works first handed over 12 of 39 pages the company provided; Legault’s office forced them to hand over 25 additional pages, but the department refused to provide a two-page letter, written in April 2008, that a sub-contractor gave to SNC-Lavalin.
Departments can only release documents through the access to information law that are deemed to be under their control. In this case, Public Works argued it didn’t have control of documents held by a third party.
“The test to establish control requires that a senior official can reasonably expect to be entitled to be provided with a copy of a record; it is not limited to physical control,” Legault wrote in an April 24, 2014 letter to Finley.
Legault argued the department had a “contractual right” to get the records from SNC-Lavalin, and had taken a narrow view of “control” that ran counter to a 2011 Supreme Court of Canada decision outlining what documents federal departments were required to provide. Legault also pointed to a 2011 forensic audit, which the government ordered, that outlined spending problems at federal buildings managed by SNC-Lavalin.
“I am concerned that records held by contractors acting on behalf of (Public Works) in the context of the (alternative forms of delivery) initiative in the (real property branch) will not be routinely retrieved and processed,” Legault wrote in her April letter.
“This would significantly undermine the principle of accountability and transparency.”
A five-month departmental review prompted by Legault’s concerns ended with Public Works officials recommending “slight modifications” to rules and procedures around access to information. While the department expanded its definition of control, documents provided to Finley say it will still decide what to release under the access to information law on a case-by-case basis — something Legault pinpointed as a problem.
jpress@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/jpress
查看原文...
