18 June 2012

More background on the Twitter and ATIPPA #nlpoli

One Twitter exchange on Monday morning raised the possibility that Tory MHA Paul Lane was referring to something that happened during the debate last week on changes to the access to information bill and not details of access requests.

Could be.

But then again, there were a couple of other things that led your humble e-scribbler to think Lane was talking about specific access requests.

First, the Premier said something on Monday June 11 that suggested the Tories were ready or were getting ready to disclose details of requests:

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, somewhere in this process I will hopefully have the opportunity to demonstrate to people where their requests for information come from, and that is going to be very eye-opening to the people of the Province. Ordinary citizens who look to access information from this government do so readily, Mr. Speaker. They do it in record time, Mr. Speaker, at little or no cost. There are lots of vexatious requests for information, lots of phishing expeditions, Mr. Speaker, but they do not come from ordinary people here in the Province.
 
Second, a number of cabinet ministers talked about specific access requests during the debate. Some of them they might have known about because they came to their departments. Others they might not have. Since Hansard isn't available, your humble e-scribbler couldn't compile a complete list of mentions of specific requests. 

-srbp-