NEWS

QUEEN'S PARK - Today, Lisa MacLeod, MPP and PC Critic for Revenue and Government Accountability, called on Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Jim Bradley to confirm whether he deliberately withheld damning information - requested by Tim Hudak and the Ontario PC Caucus - on premium cable television packages at Ontario jails. 

Ontario PC Caucus Services (PCCS), which filed a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to obtain the cable bills, was notified on Sept. 27, 2010 that the Ministry had gathered the requested records. The first sign that something fishy was going on came a month later, when the Ministry said it had made copies of the records, but some of the information on the photocopies was unreadable. However, the Ministry assured PCCS they would receive the documents by the end of November 2010.

Only after the PCCS threatened to take Minister Bradley to the Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) did he release the documents, five months late, on April 12, 2011 - the same day he announced he was scaling back on the very same cable packages at Ontario jails. Today, the Ontario PC Caucus called for a legislative committee review of ministerial interference in FOI requests.

QUOTES:

"It isn't credible that it took nearly five months for Jim Bradley to get the Ministry photocopier to work. Does he really expect Ontario families to believe that these records weren't deliberately withheld?"

--Lisa MacLeod, MPP and PC Critic for Revenue and Government Accountability

"Before we could even open the envelope, the media was already reporting that Minister Bradley was claiming credit for cancelling premium cable TV packages at jails. Ministerial interference in FOIs is a serious matter, people get fired for that sort of thing. A committee review must be ordered to review ministerial interference in FOI requests."

--Lisa MacLeod, MPP and PC Critic for Revenue and Government Accountability

QUICK FACTS:

• August 19, 2010: PCCS submits the Freedom of Information request.
• Sept. 27, 2010: Ministry staff notifies PCCS they have gathered the records and quotes the price for photocopying all the pages.
• October 25, 2010: Ministry staff notifies PCCS they are having photocopier issues, but the request will be fulfilled "by November 26, 2010 (sooner if possible)."
• April 1, 2011: After several more delays, PCCS indicates they intend to take Minister Bradley to the IPC on the grounds of "deemed refusal" (when an FOI is delayed beyond 30 days).
• April 12, 2011: PCCS receives the FOI records 137 days late as Minister Bradley is making the rounds to speak to the Queen's Park Press Gallery.