Privacy Commissioner Order Contract Disclosure - Stelmach Balks

I don’t understand the stance of the Stelmach government around the disclosure of details of the service contracts of Rod Love the former Chief of Staff for Premier Klein and Murray Smith, the province’s former envoy to Washington D.C.

The well reasoned and thorough analysis of the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner in Order F2006-007 answers all the questions and concerns over privacy issues insofar as Mr Smith is concerned. The Rod Love Chief of Staff contract is not dealt with in this decision and may be an entirely different matter.

The reasons Premier Stelmach’s reluctance to comply with the Order is based on a fear to comply with this Order to disclose they may have to do it for all public sector employees. So what and why not? We disclose this information on MLA, Deputy Ministers and other senior officials. In fact we can even tell who Minister’s bought lunch for, when and how much they paid because the Ministerial expense accounts are not on departmental websites.

The public is entitled to know this stuff and more. I believe there needs to be disclosure of compensation levels in all government third-party contracts too. A few years ago my firm was contracted by the Minister of Justice and the Speaker’s Office to review the risk management policies of the GOA due to the defamation actions around certain allegations by former Alberta Cabinet Minister Stockwell Day.

Getting the government to publicly release of our report was a saga unto itself but it eventually happened. However since this was a sole sourced contract with us we took the extra step of attaching our contract as a schedule to our report because we believed citizens had a right to know this information. That report document is still posted on our Website if you are interested.

This alleged policy concern of the Premier makes no sense. The presumption should be disclosure and if there is a possibility for rebuttal due to circumstances, then that can be taken to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for a decision.

Premier Stelmach is keen on transparency and that is a good thing. That is why his position on these contracts is so confusing, especially in light of the recent Order of the Privacy Commissioner. His default position cannot be opaqueness – that is not transparency and confuses the issues rather than clarify them.

Albertan's Are Responding to the Oil Sands Survey.

I am very encouraged by the response to the Oil Sands Survey we at Cambridge Strategies Inc and The Policy Channel are doing on values Albertans attribute to responsible and sustainable development of the oil sands. So far over 4400 Albertans have participated in this discrete choice modelling survey and this is not an easy survey that asks if you like Pepsi or Coke – it makes you think and requires you to make some personal value judgements.

We have also done a Stats Can aligned sample of 1300 Albertans to be sure we have a scientific base line for this project. Now we are reaching out to get as many Albertans as we can to do the survey as well. This is not a sponsored survey but we intend to use the results to influence government policy and industry practices on the future direction and goals for responsible and sustainable oil sands development.

The survey is anonymous but if you want a report on the results we ask you for an email address at the end of the survey. There is also a place for you to comment on the survey and the issues around oil sands development. Those comments will help us inform government and industry on the theme areas as well.

If who want to have a say in how you believe your oil sands ought to be developed please take the time to do the survey. It will force some hard choices and trade-offs on you - just like in real life but stick with it - you will be glad you did it!

Here is a link to Policy Channel and the Survey link is in the top left hand corner.

An Inquiry If Necessary but Not Necessarily an Inquiry.

So we are not yet quite at the stage of a public inquiry on the Mulroney/Schreiber affair. In a statement today from the PMO we see the intent of Mr. Harper to appoint “an independent and impartial third party to review what course of actions may be appropriate given Mr. Schreiber’s new sworn allegations.”

There may be prima facie findings of criminal actions so this preliminary review will identify and advise on what course of actions should be taken as well as the nature and timing of the inquiry.

I agree with Mr. Harper’s course of action here and his reasoning behind them as well. He is looking for non-political professional advice on how to proceed and on setting priorities for issues and terms of reference for any inquiry if needed.

Mr. Harper is now discovering it is not easy setting serious complex policy priorities. Mr. Dion has known this for a while. In fact the CPC attack ads on Mr. Dion have made the point very effectively about how difficult setting this matter of priorities can be.

Mulroney Himself Calls for a Public Inquiry into the Schreiber Allegations.

Mulroney calls for a public inquiry and says by pass the investigation stage. Finally a statesman steps up for the good of the country and perhaps even to enhance the public's confidence in the state of our democracy in the process.

As I said in an earlier post Mr. Harper should call an inquiry. I also supported his decision for an independent investigation as first step. I also hope Schreiber can’t prove his allegations because our respect for most of our political institutions has been severely shaken as of late. We don't need that trust to be tried and tested further right in the office of the Prime Minister.

Given Mr. Mulroney's recommendation, go directly to the pubic inquiry route Mr. Harper and lets get this cleared up. It is time to get this behind the players, the parties and the country.

The Enlightened Savage Sends Up Margaret Atwood

Every time I try to use sarcasm in my Blog postings, I get in trouble. It is because my “nuance” just gets lost in the text that simply cannot seem to translate my “tongue in cheek” prose. Or maybe my critics and commenters are all uber-rational positivist who think a metaphor is a five. Anyway I seem to suck at sarcasm in print.

One of my favourite Bloggers – The Enlightened Savage pulls it off every time. Even the name of his blog is proof positive of this man’s skill at "incite."

Well his latest post is a brilliant send up of Margaret Atwood and underscores the impotence of being earnest when it comes to shilling for political dollars.

Well done oh-enlightened one…well done.