By
Jim Bronskill, Ottawa
Citizen, 10 July 2002
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A dispute over
the federal information watchdog's right to examine Prime Minister Jean
Chretien's agenda books and notes from high-level Defence Department meetings has cost
taxpayers more than half a
million dollars in legal bills.
Newly obtained documents show
approximately $568,000 in work had been done through
early last month on the case, which is still before the courts, by lawyers for
the federal government and Information Commissioner John Reid.
The long-running battle over the prime minister's secret agenda books
and the defence notes pits the information
commissioner's powers of investigation under the Access to Information Act
against the entitlement of government officials to shield certain aspects of
their affairs from scrutiny.
Since assuming the
commissioner's post four years ago, Mr. Reid has often tangled with the Liberal government about
interpretations of the access act and his right to probe allegations of non-
compliance with the law.
The government has defended its actions as
honest attempts to draw the line between public and private information.
Most of the records on the
legal work provided to the Citizen were obtained through Access to Information
Act requests to federal departments by Stanley Tromp, research director of the B.C. Freedom of
Information and Privacy Association. Additional data were supplied to Mr. Tromp by the information
commissioner's office.
The documents indicate that
between September 2000 and December 2001, the government paid at least $337,000 to law firm Borden Ladner
Gervais for work on the file. The figure, derived from records released by the
Justice Department and the Privy Council Office, doesn't include the goods and
services tax.
Additional calculations
indicate Justice Department lawyers of varying levels of seniority performed
$27,953 worth of work, or more than 400 hours, through last October.
The information
commissioner's office, meanwhile, paid two law firms -- Ruby Edwardh and Langlois Gaudreau -- a total of $142,983 for
work on the file between November 2000 and early last month. Mr. Reid's office
estimates its in-house counsel put an additional 1,400 hours into the case,
valued at $59,900 based on the relevant pay scale.
The actual total cost of the legal work on the
case is almost certainly higher than $568,000, as
several related actions are still being played out in the courts.
The case of Mr. Chretien's agendas began with an access
request from an unidentified individual for five years' worth of Mr. Chretien's
books, believed to include
detailed accounts of the prime minister's activities -- from caucus meetings to
personal appointments.
The Prime Minister's Office has appealed a March 2001
decision of the Federal Court of Appeal that said Mr. Reid, an ombudsman for
users of the access law, had the right to see the documents and interview
officials as part of his investigation of two complaints.
The first complaint concerned
Mr. Chretien's agendas,
while the second involved a request by Citizen reporter David Pugliese for
information about meetings between then-defence
minister Art Eggleton, senior staff, the deputy
minister and the chief of defence staff.
The government argues the
records in both cases fall outside the ambit of the act and, therefore, Mr.
Reid should not legally be permitted to review them.
Mr. Reid has stressed he has yet to determine if the agendas are subject to the right
of access, nor has he
recommended that they be disclosed, in whole or in part. The Supreme Court's
ruling in the case is expected later this year.
In the interim, there have been
numerous subsidiary filings in Federal Court related to the main matters,
proceedings that account for a significant portion of the legal bills.
The Supreme Court will rule
tomorrow in a separate case involving federal employees that will help better define
the thorny issue of cabinet secrecy.
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