Minister clarifies statements regarding expense documents,
reaffirms government�s commitment to openness and transparency

Tom Rideout, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, today clarified statements made by the Opposition regarding an access to information request for documents related to his travel.

"The request from the Opposition for my travel documents was handled according to the rules, timelines and other regulations outlined in the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy (ATIPP) Act. The fee schedule is no different than it was for Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation. We are simply following the law as set out in the ATIPP legislation. In fact, ATIPP was actually a product of the current Opposition when they were in government, as it was assented to in the House of Assembly in March 2002."

"The Opposition is now complaining about a law, with a proposed fee schedule, that they themselves introduced," continued the minister. "Is the Opposition now saying that special exemptions should be made for them, but that everyone else should follow the law and pay associated fees?"

The minister added that vouchers and other supporting documentation are not filed within individual government departments, but are kept on file in the Department of Finance.

"Summary sheets and expense claim forms are indeed kept on file in my department," said Minister Rideout, "and these were put together in short order. However, any supporting documentation, such as hotel and airfare receipts, is kept within the Department of Finance. Furthermore, these are not filed according to name, but rather according to voucher number. Putting this information together requires time. There is also time associated with removing personal information such as credit card and telephone numbers as well as address information.

"On two occasions, department officials offered to release the expense summary sheets so that the Opposition could choose which vouchers they wished to acquire, and thus reduce the cost," continued Minister Rideout. "The Opposition declined this offer in both instances, and on one of these occasions, the Opposition was even given an estimate of the associated cost, but they still insisted on receiving all pertinent supporting documents."

The minister says he questions if the Opposition even wanted the information they requested, given that they would not accept either offer from officials to access the information at a reduced cost.

"This is just another attempt of the Opposition to make political hay, given that it is indeed national Right to Know Week," said the minister. "When the Opposition was in government, they also applied fees to FOI requests. In fact, the Department of Environment attempted to charge in the vicinity of $8,000 for documents related to water quality assessments."

The minister added that he has no issue with releasing his travel expense documents.

"I have been in public life for 30 years and have always made any details relating to my expenses available," said Minister Rideout. "The Opposition chose to activate the ATIPP process. Once that process is activated, there is a legal requirement that the individuals requesting the information be charged for the work required. That is the law, and we must follow it."

"I am personally committed to being open and transparent, and so is this government. The Opposition is accusing us of preventing information from being released under ATIPP, when the Canadian Newspaper Association, in its yearly audit of all ATIPP programs across the country, have rated us number two in Canada. Of all requests received under ATIPP in 2005-06, 85 per cent were responded to within 30 days or less and only two per cent of all requests resulted in recommendations for further disclosure. Furthermore, the fees charged by this province are among the lowest - if not the lowest - in the country".

Media contact: Lori Lee Oates, ABC, Communications, (709) 351-4989, 729-3733

2006 09 29                                            3:45 p.m.