SASKATOON, SK: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on all provincial politicians to support a private members’ bill to overhaul freedom-of-information law and make the government more transparent.

“Taxpayers pay the bills and they deserve to know how their politicians are spending their tax dollars,” said Gage Haubrich, CTF Prairie Director. “Sunlight is the best disinfectant and this bill will make it easier for everyday taxpayers and journalists to uncover wasteful government spending.”

MLA Jordan McPhail’s private member’s bill, Bill 638, proposes eliminating fees for processing FOI requests, requiring the government to post all completed FOI request responses on a website within two weeks of being released and creating a clause that compels the government to release all information deemed in the public interest.

The bill would also give the Saskatchewan information and privacy commissioner the power to compel the government to release documents. The privacy commissioner is the independent official who makes sure that the government is following FOI law. Currently, the government can ignore recommendations from the commissioner.

The CTF has pushed the Saskatchewan government to give the commissioner order-making power.

Five other provinces and the federal government give their commissioners the power to make legally binding orders.

FOI requests are one of the ways the CTF digs up government waste. That’s how taxpayers found out that the government spent $17,401 on two charter flights between Regina and Saskatoon.

“Government accountability and transparency shouldn’t be a partisan issue,” Haubrich said. “Politicians from both sides of the legislature need to back this bill to show they support taxpayers’ right to know.”