The federal government has spent approximately $57 million on outside consultants over the past nine years to help decide which government records Canadians are allowed to obtain.
Most of that spending, on what are called access to information consultants, occurred during the last four years.
The $57-million price tag is for spending starting in fiscal year 2006-2007, after the Conservatives were first elected to government. About 60 per cent of that money has been spent since the Conservatives won a majority in 2011. The money was spent by departments to handle access to information requests and complaints, according to documents tabled in Parliament this week. The spending is above and beyond that allocated to full-time staff handling such requests in each department.
Health Canada and Public Works and Government Services Canada were the two top spenders since 2006, combining to spend just over $18.5 million on outside consultants to handle information requests.
The spending figures are contained in an order paper question that NDP MP Charlie Angus submitted in early December. He received the 344-page response Monday.
Under the access to information regime, Canadians can request the federal government records and information that their taxes pay for, though the law allows some information to be withheld, such as data that could compromise national security.
Since the Conservatives were elected in 2006, consultants charging between $20 and $225 per hour have been regularly hired to review public requests for records and determine what content can be released. In some cases, these outside consultants handle documents that also require high-level security clearance.
“This is extremely sensitive information,” Angus said. “You need specialists in your department to handle this. You don’t … put an ad in the paper. We don’t know who is doing the review.”
Angus argued that the government should put resources into hiring full-time staff in departments to handle requests, rather than go to outside firms.
“If you want to look at bad fiscal management, this is it,” Angus said.
“Anybody who can run a Tim Hortons could tell you to hire the staff. It will cost you a lot less.”
The cost of the access to information regime was raised with MPs late last year when Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault appeared before a Commons committee to appeal for a boost in her budget. While her office budget has been cut by 11 per cent, there has been a 30-per-cent increase in the number of complaints her office handles, adding to a backlog in caseload for handling public complaints.
During the December meeting, Legault asked MPs to consider scrapping the $5 fee charged for every access to information request. When Conservative MPs instead raised the possibility of raising the price for a request, Legault said such an increase would dissuade Canadians from seeking government records and would be at odds with the government’s open data initiative.
