Lack of transparency in P.E.I. spending raises 'issues of trust and confidence,' expert says
CBC
The P.E.I. government is refusing to disclose basic information about some contracts the province awarded without going to tender, including what companies the province signed the contracts with.
This, as the province's auditor general and others call for increased transparency in how the P.E.I. government handles procurement — that is, the process of spending taxpayer dollars on goods and services.
"When the government doesn't want to be transparent, it tends to start raising issues of trust and confidence: what are they trying to hide?" said Lise Patry, a public procurement lawyer and instructor in the procurement program offered through Osgoode Hall Law School at York University.
"Unfortunately that's the byproduct of being non-transparent, especially with information that typically governments across Canada will share quite willingly."
CBC News filed access to information requests with every government department for basic information on all untendered contracts worth $10,000 or more from the first term of the Dennis King government.
Initially only the Department of Social Development and Seniors provided records. The premier's office said it had no responsive records.
Every other department responded with bills to retrieve the information which altogether totalled more than $7,000.
CBC News pared down its request, seeking untendered contracts for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023 and eventually received information from nine of 11 government departments.
Of the 386 contracts disclosed to CBC News, the names of the companies were withheld from 78 of them, or one in five. In some of those, the province also refused to say what the contract was for.
In all those cases the province cited a section of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which states information can be withheld if its release "could reasonably be expected" to compromise the security of computer systems.
Patry said she was "shocked" and that it was "highly, highly unusual" for any government to withhold the names of companies with which it did business.
She said transparency in government spending is meant to reassure taxpayers that rules are being followed, and without it, "what typically tends to happen is those heading governments tend to start favouring certain vendors.
"Sometimes it's people that have supported politicians, and all of a sudden what you find is an erosion of value, or paying too much for the services and goods. You're not getting the best value for money. That's not good for the taxpayer."
Even if Islanders had access to government contract information, in many cases it would be impossible for them to see whether rules were being followed because some of those rules are not available for the public to see.
An 81-year-old man from Prince County has died after a single-vehicle crash on Route 14 near Christopher Cross, police say.
The B.C. government has raised the ceiling to $75,000 for potential damages over intimate-image abuse.
A man was found dead inside a house on Elm Street in Niagara Falls after it caught fire on Wednesday night, police say.
It’s been eight days since Suncor’s Sarnia refinery reported an oil spill into the St. Clair River, and it remains unclear what caused the pipeline leak, how much got into the water — and where cleanup efforts are at.
A joint operation involving Edmonton police has led to the deportation of two men, over what police say is a wave of extortions targeting the city's South Asian community.
Red Lake is hoping a petition will help it land federal funding for a new arena.
An N.W.T. MLA says the territory needs to fiercely protect treaty rights and territorial waters, amid Alberta’s merger of two major river basins, and the proposed treatment and release of oilsands tailings into the environment.
The Supreme Court of Canada will hear arguments against the Liberal government's deeply controversial decision to outlaw certain firearms.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is rejecting Opposition accusations of entitlement for using a private jet last fall courtesy of the Saudi government.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s department of Transportation and Infrastructure is promising policy changes after a Conception Bay South family spoke out about the expropriation and resale of the land where their home once stood.
Nova Scotia’s seniors and long-term care minister is calling on administrators at nursing homes to make direct appeals to their employees amidst protracted contract talks with the union representing workers at more than 50 sites.
A pair of Saint John poverty researchers have told N.B. Power's rate hearing that rising electricity prices are a serious affordability problem for low-income households and the utility or provincial government should match programs in place elsewhere that would help.
Lawyers for a man acquitted in a high-profile Toronto murder trial where a police officer was killed are holding a news conference Thursday to address a recent Ontario Provincial Police report that re-examines evidence from the trial.