VICTORIA – The British Columbia government will soon start pushing out information to the public that is commonly requested in Freedom of Information documents.
Finance Minister Mike de Jong announced Monday that the information will include the details of directly-awarded contracts, summaries of gaming grants and calendars of high-level government bureaucrats and cabinet ministers.
De Jong says travel expenses for cabinet ministers, including receipts, will be released on a quarterly basis.
The government pledged earlier to breakdown public information barriers following critical reports from by B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham and former B.C. privacy commissioner David Loukidelis.
Denham’s report highlighted a failure to keep adequate email records and the willful destruction of records in response to a freedom-of-information request about missing and murdered women along Highway 16, B.C.’s so-called Highway of Tears.
While the information release will begin almost immediately, de Jong says legislation surrounding the government’s duty to document records won’t be tabled this spring, and will be the focus of further review.
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