A cabinet staffer who deals with Access to Information requests says ministerial aides typically try to hinder the release of politically damaging information. This insightful inside information comes care of the Hill Times. This said, the source also says whether the government is Liberal or Conservative, it's the same story.

The claim of apparent centrally-directed political interference in Canada's access to information system comes in the wake of a Feb. 7 CP story that reported on how Cabinet staffer Sébastien Togneri ordered the "unrelease" of a sensitive report on the government's real estate portfolio last July. At the time, he worked for then minister of Public Works Christian Paradis (Mégantic-L'Érable, Que.) and subsequently pressured officials to release only 30 pages of a 137-page document. Public servants, Justice Department lawyers and consultants had agreed there was no legal basis to withhold any of the document, CP reported. . . .

But the staffer who deals with ATI files told The Hill Times the Paradis incident was not an isolated one, but instead a standard operating procedure.

"Sebastian...has not, from my experience, done anything that is significantly different than what ministers' offices are expected to do by the PMO," said the staffer.

The source said the Prime Minister's Office has pressured ministerial staffers to head off the release of explosive information.

"The PMO does get mad at ministers' offices when there's an ATIP that goes out that has more information than they believe it ought to have had," the staffer said. "They'll yell at ministers' offices...

The staffer described a few of the tactics employed to restrict the release of information. After reviewing outgoing ATI documents before their release, the source said, staffers will suggest to ATI officers that they have not applied the Access to Information Act correctly, and that more information should be withheld. Often, he said, staffers will urge greater redactions, or the withholding of whole series' of documents that were not requested in a very specific manner.

Another tactic is to say the release of documents will damage relations with the provinces or foreign governments, conditions under which the government is permitted to withhold information, the staffer said. In such cases, the file is sent to the Privy Council Office for further consultations.

"The PMO works their magic—and I don't know how they do this—to try to get PCO to say: 'Yeah that will hurt relations with a foreign government, can't release it," said the Cabinet staffer.