And promises to break…

Stephen McNeil promised us the most open and transparent government ever. He lied. Now as our information and privacy commissioner retires, the premier’s wannabe replacements will talk a good game. Should we believe them? I have no reason to doubt Catherine Tully when she told the subscriber-based business website allnovascotia.com last week she would have […]

Bobbleheaded Zach joins the public accounts follies

Education Minister Zach Churchill was just filling in on the public accounts committee last week, filling in Liberal interest spin in the usual please-the-premier way. And so it went. Funny, but… The column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner March 4, 2019. I’m almost certain Nova Scotia Education Minister Zach Churchill is not really a Bobblehead. He was just […]

Catherine Tully’s power to persuade vs government’s power to ignore

If you’re denied access to information even after the information and privacy commissioner has reviewed your request and deemed it legitimate, your only recourse is to take the government to court. At your own expense, of course. It doesn’t have to be that way. It is because it’s in the government’s interest to keep you […]

Stephen McNeil: Read his lips. Just don’t believe a word he says

Here in Stephen McNeil’s Nova Scotia, we should mark Right to Know Week by lowering the flag to half-mast and lighting a mourning candle in memory of the quaint notion citizens have some fundamental right to know what its government is doing. This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner September 24, 2018. Happy “Right […]