Legault denies political interference in the freedom of information requests

According to testimonies collected by Radio-Canada from three health officials responsible for accessing information requests in three different regions, there is an internal consultation mechanism within the state apparatus in responses to whether respond or not to these requests made by the public and the media.

According to three people who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, there was political influence in the processing of the requests. There are even claims all means are good to deny access in public documents.

However, the existence of such a process is contrary to the law which stipulates that citizens have the right to this information within the parameters of confidentiality provided by law on access to documents of public bodies.

Aninaw

Opposition to the National Assembly accused of lack of transparency and of trying to control information by putting pressure on the state apparatus, Prime Minister François Legault warned his political opponents to pay attention to the intentions attributed to the government following the publication of this article.

What we are talking about in the article are the presidents of CISSS or CIUSSS who do not agree with their officials on the information that should be provided.he continued.

It is not politics, it is not the people in the cabinet or the ministers or the prime minister. We’re talking about officers telling officers, “Here’s the information you can make public”defense of the Prime Minister.

The Parti Québécois MNA for Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Joël Arseneau, immediately instructed François Legault that the CEOs of CIUSSS and CISSS were appointed by the Minister of Health and therefore he was not impossible for them to be subject to political pressure on processing access to information requests.

” Personally, what I say to the CEOs of CISSS and CIUSSS is: “Respect the law […] and all that can be given must be given ”, and that is what we have been doing since the pandemic began. “

Reform is needed

As for the official critic of the opposition for access to information, Gaétan Barrette, he urged the minister responsible for access to information and protection of personal information, Éric Caire, to review the Act that relating to access to documents held by public bodies to ensure not autonomy, but the freedom of those in charge of access requests, as we did with whistleblowers.

Dissatisfied with Mr. Cairo’s response, the Liberal MP entertained the gallery by displaying a poster showing a business card from the minister redacted with markers. Eric Caire, jokingly, asked in a credit study session, to call him Sharpie.

“Culture of opacity”

In the ranks of Québec solidaire, parliamentary leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois also called for a reform of the law, but also for a change of culture within the government.

In Quebec, there is a culture of opacity and a culture of lack of transparency in the state apparatus. Talk to Louis Robert. Talk to whistleblowers, then I want to say, talk to yourself, there, talk to journalists who have broken their teeth about the culture of opacity and lack of transparency specific to Quebeccriticized Mr. Nadeau-Dubois.

Don’t ask me where it came from, a broad question, but we’ve known for decades that this problem has existed.

What is needed, according to Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, is above all a massive political will to change that culture.

François Legault presented himself to Quebecers saying: “I am the change, I will change that, that system.” Not only did it fail, but the state of Quebec was more obscure than ever. We have been under a state of health emergency for two years, over two years.

” He treats people asking for information as threats, except that the real threat is not information, it is not transparency. The real threat is darkness. “