Access delayed, access denied: Here's why P.E.I's information system is broken
CBC
This month will mark one year since CBC Prince Edward Island submitted a freedom of information request for a report the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission supplied the provincial minister of agriculture in October 2020 on an investigation into Brendel Farms.
That 900-plus-page report, presumably, details how a member of the well-known New Brunswick-based Irving family was able to acquire 890 hectares of land without the sale going to cabinet for approval, as required under the province's Lands Protection Act. A previous application to purchase the land had seemingly been scuttled when the cabinet of the day said no.
Besides Agriculture Minister Bloyce Thompson, MLAs on two standing committees have seen the contents of the report, but the MLAs are sworn to secrecy and Islanders remain in the dark.
In January, the province's privacy commissioner told the government it should release the report in response to CBC's request.
But in March, the government told CBC News that one of the businesses involved in the investigation had requested another review from the privacy commissioner, as is its right. Now there is no indication when the report will be released.
"Access delayed is access denied," provincial Privacy Commissioner Maria MacDonald wrote in one of her decisions in 2012. MacDonald she works as an adjudicator in the office of current commissioner Denise Doiron.
A year is a long time to wait for information, but some of CBC P.E.I.'s requests have been in the hopper much longer.
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