The Saskatchewan NDP is calling out the Sask. Party Government’s lack of transparency and accountability after the NDP was charged over $107,000 for a freedom of information (FOI) request.
Any member can make an FOI request to the public, media, or organization that provides public access to information held by public authorities.
According to the independent Information and Privacy Commissioner, estimated FOI fees have skyrocketed since Scott Moe took office.
During the 2018-19 fiscal year, total estimated fees were $130,200. Last fiscal year, total estimated costs were $2,359,322. Over two hundred fewer FOI applications were received in the previous year than in 2018-19.
“This is the least transparent government in Saskatchewan’s history,” said Conway. “Scott Moe and the old boys club have been in power for 16 years. Lately, they seem more interested in hiding problems than fixing them.”
The Opposition’s claim came after they requested that the Moe government provide details about its provincial drainage policy and the effectiveness of its flood risk assessment efforts on November 1st.
The Moe government returned the FOI request with an eye-watering $107,280 bill, asking that the Opposition pay half in advance.
“Scott Moe and his Ministers have frequently been caught misleading the public. That’s why the freedom of information process is so important,” said Ritchie. “Saskatchewan people deserve to know what the government is doing with their tax dollars. They deserve to know if this government is working for the people or working for the Sask. Party’s out-of-province donors.”
Sask. Party officials claim to have precisely 100,000 pages of relevant information. They also estimate that the time needed to search and retrieve paper versus electronic documents would be the same: 539 hours for each.
The Moe government said it needed 3,606 hours to complete this task and offered 2 hours, valued at $60, free of charge.
