Province going back to court in March to keep contract under wraps
VANCOUVER, B.C.--The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today revealed that the provincial government has spent $124,522.48 so far in its eight-year-long fight against releasing the IBM workplace service contract to the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA).
The CTF used the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to obtain the total legal bill paid by the Ministry of the Attorney General to keep the $300 million workplace services agreement with IBM secret. The $124,522.48 does not include government staff time, nor does it include costs forced on the Information Commissioner for legal bills and case review. Those dollars could double the figure and the government’s latest appeal will require two more days in court, scheduled for March.
“It’s mind-boggling that the Province continues to waste money to hide a contract it signed on behalf of taxpayers,” said CTF B.C. Director Jordan Bateman. “These legal bills will go up again this spring as the government drags everyone back into court to hide this information. They’ve lost this argument at every turn, but they just spend more money trying to keep this contract secret.”
“This is even more outrageous coming from a premier who claims to be in favour of open government,” said FIPA Executive Director Vincent Gogolek. “Nothing could be more important to the principles of open government and public accountability than openness of contracts.”
The government has tried a series of legal gambits to keep the contract secret and has lost every one of them. It has also been forced to release other contracts, including several alternative service delivery contracts worth $1.8 billion of taxpayers’ money. FIPA, the CTF, and Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham have repeatedly called for these contracts to be posted online but the government has consistently failed to do so.
“It’s time for Premier Clark to take a real stand for open government. Don’t waste more money in court this March—release the full contract now,” said Bateman. “It’s very simple: contracts signed by the government should be open to taxpayers paying the bill.”
