April 27 I requested a copy of the Orientation to Strategic Planning – Sabine Matheson, Olivia Lahaie, Strategy Corp. presentation to council at the April 18 meeting.

Within minutes, CAO Critchley advised, As the slides used by Strategy Corp are proprietary information, should you wish a copy of the presentation, please submit an MFIPPA request.

And then I emailed members of council and CAO Critchley:

for those who are unaware, a Routine Disclosure Policy, recommended decades ago by the Information and Privacy Commission, was being looked at three years ago, according to then-CAO Miceli. The topic was discussed at council meetings but still no policy has been created. Such a policy would reflect a commitment to open government, transparency and accountability since routine requests for information would not place a ‘burden’ on administration or taxpayers. Public information should routinely be disclosed to the public – that is a best practice.

Residents should not routinely be advised to submit FOI requests in lieu of a policy and/or in lieu of members of council or administration ignoring requests for information.

I strongly urge the council, who has policy making authority, to enact this policy for the betterment of the community.

No responses were received.