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The Ontario Science Centre. Photo by James Brittain, Courtesy Moriyama Teshima ArchitectsThis post is coauthored by Sandford Borins, Professor of Public Management Emeritus at the University of Toronto, with Elsa Lam, Editor of Canadian Architect, so we refer to ourselves jointly in the plural and individually in the third person.Sir Humphrey Appleby, the fictional senior public servant in the iconic satireYes Ministerknew that one of the best ways to hide embarrassing information was to bury it under reams of anodyne memoranda. Infrastructure Ontario seems to have learned that lesson well. When it released its 78-page business case for modernizing the Ontario Science Centre (OSC) in November 2023, thelast of 333 pages of appendicescontained an excerpt from a Powerpoint deck contrasting the cost of operating the OSC in its original Don Mills location with a temporary location while a new facility is being constructed at Ontario Place. The deck was authored by public servants in Infrastructure Ontario and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Sport and was presented to the office of Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma.When the Ford Government made its surprise announcement to shutter the Don Mills location on June 21, 2024, we both re-read the business case and its appendices to see if there was anything there that would shed light on the decision. We both suspected that the decision had been in the works for quite some time, and that the discovery of problems with the concrete roofing in the original buildings was merely a pretext.The Powerpoint deck on page 333 of the appendices referred to Option 1A, so there were at least two other options (1B and 2) under consideration when the business case was being written in 2022 and 2023. We both filed Freedom of Information (FoI) requests for the entire Powerpoint deck, Ms. Lam on July 29, 2024 and Professor Borins on August 21, 2024. During the fall, we both asked FoI officers about our requests, and received polite but unhelpful replies. On October 10, Ms. Lam was told Please be advised that we are still processing your access request. On November 8, Professor Borins was told, we are still processing your file and hope to complete it soon and on November 19 we sincerely apologize for the delay and are hoping to complete your file as soon as we can.We both concluded that this polite language was masking an unwillingness to provide the deck and we filed appeals on the grounds of deemed refusal, Ms. Lam on November 21, and Professor Borins on November 29. We were told the appeals were to be handled by an expedited process and were given to the Expedited Team, with a Case Lead no less. When Ms. Lam followed up with the appeals office in mid-December, she was told that A case lead has not yet been assigned, but upon assignment, you will be contacted. As of mid-January, we have both heard nothing more.This should be a very simple request to respond to. We are asking for a Powerpoint deck one computer file. If officials who prepared the file dont want to release the entire file, they could redact portions of it. Professor Borins on two occasions asked for Excel spreadsheets containing responses to the Ontario Governments online budget consultations also a single computer file and he received them within a month, the time frame by which the government is required to respond to FoI requests.We suspect something more is going on in this case. Both of us have been critics of the decision to close the original Science Centre and move it to Ontario Place and of the plans for Ontario Place, and have written about them in our blogs. Here is a link toMr. Borins most recent piece and another link toMs. Lams home page. We have also been interviewed by the media. We think the Ford Government, which isalmost certain to call an electionand which likely considers itself vulnerable on its decisions about the OSC and Ontario Place, wants to deny its critics information that can be used in the campaign. We think that the ever-polite FoI officers are acting under orders from Minister Surmas office, Cabinet office, or the Premiers Office. For that reason, we are not naming them.Freedom of Information can be a potent tool to hold government to account. But when government does not want to be held to account, the best course of action is to delay. The release of a grossly redacted file or an outright refusal would indicate that the government has something to hide. Delay allows it to hide even that. Sir Humphrey Appleby would approve. Franz Kafka would not be surprised. The people of Ontario should be outraged.The post Ontarios Kafkaesque Freedom of Information Regime appeared first on Canadian Architect.
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