federal government

Members on the Civiaccess.ca list have presented at the House Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics and have made submissions to the Standing Committee of Industry, Science and Technology, and have significantly contributed to Legislative Committee on Bill C32. / Les membres de la liste Civicaccess.ca ont présenté au Comité permanent de l’accès à l’information, de la protection des renseignements personnels et de l’éthique, faitent des soumissions au Comité permanent de l’industrie, des sciences et de la technologie et ont largement contribué au Comité législatif chargé du projet de loi C-32.

House committee on Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics / Comité permanent de l’accès à l’information, de la protection des renseignements personnels et de l’éthique

studies and reports on matters referred to it by the House of Commons, or on topics the Committee itself chooses to examine. / mène des études et présente des rapports sur les questions qui lui sont renvoyées par la Chambre des communes, ou sur celles qu’il choisit d’étudier de son propre chef.

The Committee studies matters related to reports of the Information Commissioner of Canada, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, and the Ethics Commissioner, with respect to the last-mentioned official’s responsibilities under the Parliament of Canada Act relating to public office holders; and reports tabled pursuant to theLobbyists Registration Act. The Committee’s mandate is set out in section 108(3)(h) of the Standing Orders. / Le Comité étudie les questions relatives aux rapports du Commissaire à l’information du Canada, du Commissaire à la protection de la vie privée du Canada et duCommissaire à l’éthique, au titre des responsabilités qui incombent à ce dernier aux termes de la Loi sur le Parlement du Canada, ainsi que les rapports déposés en application de la Loi sur l’enregistrement des lobbyistes. Le mandat du Comité est défini à l’alinéa 108(3)h) du Règlement.

Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology (INDU) / Comité permanent de l’industrie, des sciences et de la technologie (INDU)

studies and reports on legislation, the activities and spending of Industry Canadaand the other members of the Industry Portfolio, and other matters related to / est chargé de réaliser des études et de préparer des rapports sur les activités et dépenses d’Industrie Canada et les autres membres duportefeuille de l’Industrie, sur les projets de loi qui relèvent de ce ministère, ainsi que sur d’autres questions touchant :

• industry and technology capability / le développement industriel et la technologie;
• scientific research and development / la recherche et le développement scientifiques;
• telecommunications policy / la politique sur les télécommunications;
• investment, trade, small business and tourism / l’investissement, le commerce, la petite entreprise et le tourisme;
• rules and services that support the effective operation of the marketplace / les règles et services soutenant le fonctionnement efficace du marché.

Legislative Committee on Bill C-32 (CC32) / Comité législatif chargé du projet de loi C-32 (CC32)

Standing Committee on Transport and Communication /Comité permanent des transport et des communications

The subject areas for which the Committee is responsible include / Les domaines qui relèvent du Comité sont les suivants :

• Transport and communications by land, air, water, and space, be this by radio, telephone, telegraph, wire, cable, microwave, wireless, television, satellite, broadcasting, post, or any other means, method or form / les transports et les communications par voie de terre, d’air, d’eau et d’espace, que ce soit par radio, téléphone, télégraphe, fil, câble, micro-onde, sans-fil, télévision, satellite, radiodiffusion, communications postales, ou par toute autre forme, méthode ou moyen;
• Tourist traffic / Tourisme
• Common carriers / Transports publiques
• Navigation, shipping and navigable waters / La navigation, le transport maritime et les voies navigables.

See the Plan for a Digital Canada Report / Plan pour in Canada numérique

It looks like a biased toward industry monitoring agency Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program (RAMP) has left the public in the dark about fish abnormalities in waters in and around the oil sands sites.  It is also a case where the monitoring agency is aggregating the data into annual reports and not providing the raw data for others to scrutinize.

“That is the problem. To get the actual data, you need the raw data,” not just annual reports, said Kevin Timoney, an Alberta ecologist and oil sands researcher. “They release just enough so they can say that they did, but they don’t give you enough to see what’s really going on.”

Pembina Institute: “An essential component of any credible monitoring program is that all the data should be available to the public,”

Hundreds of deformed fish found in rivers running through the Alberta oil sands have been collected and documented by an industry-led monitoring body, The Globe and Mail has learned, but the findings were not shared with the public or key decision makers in government.

That body, the Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program (RAMP), has been criticized in scientific quarters as secretive and is under the scrutiny of three reviews. Former environment minister Jim Prentice ordered one of those reviews after being shown photos this fall of a few malformed fish, and it was delivered Thursday to Environment Canada.

The Monitoring agencie’s Steering Committee is mixed between Oil industry, public health agencies, First Nations and government with very heavy emphasis on big oil industry:

I tried to find out who the members of the technical committee are but only found the following org chart which illustrates that the 3 non government stakeholders are First Nations or Metis Groups and these are dwarfed between industry and government. On the Government side you also see an Energy and Utilities Board, while on the industry side, by the largest number representatives,  is the petroleum & energy industry:
The following are the labs RAMP states it subs it’s work to.  I do not know enough the science to assess them.  I do wonder if they would have the raw data in their shops and if they would release these to the public.  A lab that is sub-contracted may or may not be the owners of the data and may or may not have given up the rights to publish them.  This is often the issue with the procurement of data, for instance, survey engineers claim IP on their data and share them with a city only for city assessments, but the city has to send citizens back to the survey engineer to view those data and the city cannot share these with citizens openly.  In this case, it would be more trustworthy to acquire the raw data from the labs directly.  However, it also depends who owns these labs.  They could very well be owned by the industries that need tests done, or they could be biased toward those industries as they would be their major source of revenue.

• ALS Environmental – most water and sediment quality analyses
• Alberta Research Council – some ultratrace metal analyses
• AXYS Laboratories – sediment concentrations of PAHs
• HydroQual – water and sediment toxicity analyses
• Flett Research – mercury analysis in non-lethal fish tissue samples
• Jack Zloty – benthic invertebrate taxonomy

RAMP shares its information only in annual monitoring reports.  There is an interactive web map of their monitoring sites.  The legend indicates fish tissue monitoring site, and I only found 2 fish tissue sampling sites that do not provide much data except that a sample was taken. According the the G&M article:

Much of the raw data collected by RAMP is kept private, deemed proprietary because of the industry funding. But even among its members, it has faced pressure to open up. Syncrude, which did much of the testing before RAMP’s inception, has called for data to be released, spokeswoman Cheryl Robb said.

In RAMP’s news section there is reference to an article indicating that they would make their database available to the public.  I could not find this database on their site and have sent them an email requesting to see it.  The email I recceived regarding this request is as follows:

Good morning Tracey,

Thank you for your e-mail.

As indicated by the media post you pointed out, the database will be available to the public by the end of the year and that is still our intention. Please check back next week.

Best regards,
Hailey
RAMP Communications

This is a classic lack of transparency situation and a seeming stacked deck leaning heavily toward meeting industry interests. It is very reminiscent of the Environment Canada refusal to share Mine Pollutant Data, a government agency supposedly overseeing the public interest not sharing key data.

Researchers use OpenData to inform their work, and are also producers of data and software that can be re-shared with the public.  In Canada, much university research is supported by public funds and an argument can be made that the results of that research should be accessible to the public.  The research at the Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre will be featured as will community based social policy research in Ottawa.  In Canada some data are accessible, but mostly data are not, and if they are, cost recovery policies and regressive licensing impede their use.  The talk will feature examples where data are open and where opportunities for evidence based decision making are restricted.

Abstract: Canada’s Information Commissioners have adopted a resolution toward Open Government and part of the open government process is open access to public administrative, census, map and research data.  A number of Canadian Cities,  innovative government programs such as GeoConnections, forward thinking research funding such as International Polar Year have become OpenData cities, implemented data sharing infrastructures and fund data sharing science.  Access to data are one part of the open government conversation, and it is argued that opendata bring us closer to more informed democratic deliberations on public policy.

Its official!

StatCan expects a 50% response rate from the Voluntary National Household Survey and would have expected a 94% response rate from a mandatory Long-Form Census.

Read: StatCan National Household Survey: data quality

The Canadian Government cuts the Long-Form Census,creates a survey that costs  $ 35 million for less reliable data and then cuts the agency back again by $7 million!

Canadian Press: Troubled StatsCan facing $7M in cuts

Hamilton Spectator:  StatsCan to cut more 5 more surveys

The Article includes the following surveys – I think I have the correct links but I am unsure!:

1. The Industrial Pollutant Release Survey (I cannot find a link)
2. The article says The Quarterly Energy Use  (Households and the Environment: Energy Use or Quarterly Industrial Consumption of Energy Survey which one?) and the  Greenhouse Gas Emissions Survey (Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Private Vehicles in Canada, 1990 to 2007 or Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report which one?) both pilot projects;
3. The National Population Health Survey;
4. The Survey of the Suppliers of Business Financing; and
5. The Survey on Financing of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.

Wonderful!

I will link the content later on!  Til then, you can enjoy digging for the info!  It has been a great couple of weeks where we have heard many discussions on Right To Know, Data Access and Open Data, and that is where I have been busy and thus a bit of a backlog on these round-ups.

Enjoy

• Angus Reid Public Opinion Poll: Majority of Canadians Support Move to Reinstate Long Form Census http://www.visioncritical.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/2010.10.06_Census_CAN.pdf
• The Hamilton Spectator: Census Lie Exposed http://www.thespec.com/opinion/editorial/article/262888–census-lie-exposed
• CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/09/30/liberals-census-motion.html?ref=rss
• CBC: Francophone challenge to census rejected http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/10/06/census-francophone-courts.html?ref=rss
• Global News: Court rejects francophone census challenge http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/10/06/census-francophone-courts.html?ref=rss
• Macleans: Census appeal hits dead end in Federal Court http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/10/06/census-suit-meets-dead-end-in-federal-court/
• Toronto Sun: Group’s request to overturn census decision denied http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/10/06/15603441.html
• Winnipeg Free Press: Canadians give PM an earful on decision http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/canadians-give-pm-an-earful-on-decision-104555779.html
• Telegraph Journal: Federal court nixes challenge to Ottawa’s census changes http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/front/article/1252362
• The Vancouver Sun: Bernier praised long-form census in 2006 letter http://www.vancouversun.com/news/canada/Bernier+praised+long+form+census+2006+letter/3637990/story.html
• Ottawa Citizen: Census war still on http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Census+still/3641182/story.html
• Global Toronto: Bernier blunders http://www.globaltoronto.com/Bernier+blunders/3638971/story.html
• Inside Halton: Halton MP’s town hall meeting draws out census debate http://www.insidehalton.com/news/article/883482–great-to-see-bonnie-of-bonnie-clyde
• The Toronto Sun: Tories Reject Census Defeat http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/09/29/15523871.html
• vancouver Sun: Minister praised long-form census in letter http://www.vancouversun.com/Minister+praised+long+form+census+letter/3642006/story.html
• Macleans: Make your own Commons http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/09/28/make-your-own-commons/
• The Globe and Mail: Opposition, provinces fail to stir Tories from census positionhttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/industry-minister-shoots-down-ontario-and-quebecs-last-ditch-census-complaint/article1731919/?cmpid=rss1
• National Post: Tories ignore opposition motion to bring back long-form census http://www.nationalpost.com/Tories+ignore+opposition+motion+bring+back+long+form+census/3599603/story.html
• International Statistical Institute: ISI President Jef Teugels sent a letter to the Canadian
• Minister of Industry, and the Minister of Industry replied http://isi-web.org/news/long-form-in-the-canadian-census
• The Toronto Star: Long and Short of the Census Debate: http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/869260–long-and-short-of-the-census-debate
• The North Bay Nugget: Agencies defend censushttp://nugget.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2781578
• The whig Standard: Government’s census policy against the law: group http://thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?
• Vernon Morning Star: Trustees fight for census http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/vernonmorningstar/news/103757984.html
• The Montreal Gazette: Bernier backs off on census claims http://www.montrealgazette.com/Bernier+backs+census+claims/3628705/story.html
• the Globe and Mail: Language groups hit snag in census battle http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/language-groups-hit-snag-in-census-battle/article1743946/
• Vancouver Sun: Census saga continues with Liberal MP’s bill http://www.vancouversun.com/news/canada/Census+saga+continues+with+Liberal+bill/3603580/story.html
• the CBC news: Industry Canada queried Bernier census claims http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/10/04/census-bernier-complaints-documents.html?ref=rss
• The Vancouver Sun: Judge throws out census-decision challenge http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Judge+throws+census+decision+challenge/3632646/story.html
• The Mark: http://www.iassistdata.org/blog/iassist-letter-canadian-government-loss-2011-census-long-form  http://www.themarknews.com/articles/2671
• The Concordian: Voluntary census will cut federal costs http://www.theconcordian.com/opinions/voluntary-census-will-cut-federal-costs-1.1662988
• CBC News: Francophone challenge to census rejected http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/10/06/census-francophone-courts.html
• The Mark News: The long-form census controversy holds important lessons for both federal public servants and their political masters. http://www.themarknews.com/articles/2655
• The Mark: Former industry minister Maxime Bernier said earlier this year that he received 1,000 complaints a day about the long-form census. http://www.themarknews.com/articles/2677-conservatives-exaggerated-census-complaints-data-suggests
• The Chronicle Herald: http://thechronicleherald.ca/Editorials/1204970.htmlhttp://thechronicleherald.ca/Editorials/1204970.html
• CBC Inside Politics: Orders of the Day – Let’s All Take A Trip Down Census Crisis Memory Lane! http://www.cbc.ca/politics/insidepolitics/2010/09/orders-of-the-day—lets-all-take-a-trip-down-census-crisis-memory-lane.html
• Le Devoir:Recensement – Bernier veut aller encore plus loin http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/canada/297718/recensement-bernier-veut-aller-encore-plus-loin?utm_source=infolettre-2010-10-08&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=infolettre-quotidienne
• Global News: Harper government faces court challenge on census http://www.globalnews.ca/entertainment/Harper+government+faces+court+challenge+census/3587334/story.html
• Le Devoir: Recensement – La Cour donne raison à Ottawa http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/canada/297621/recensement-la-cour-donne-raison-a-ottawa?utm_source=infolettre-2010-10-07&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=infolettre-quotidienne
• The Globe and Mail: The census is for Parliament to decide http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/the-census-is-for-parliament-to-decide/article1729166/
• National Post: Tories will stick with census plan: Harper http://www.nationalpost.com/news/tories+will+stick+with+census+plan/3592632/story.html
• Edmonton Journal: Paying both sides on census http://www.edmontonjournal.com/life/Paying+both+sides+census/3589380/story.html
• Toronto Star: Government knew costs of axing census, documents show http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/census/article/866944–not-too-late-to-save-census-goodale
• CBC News: Liberals move to reinstate long-form census http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/09/28/pol-long-form-census-liberals.html?ref=rss
• Toronto Sun: Census….the debate never endshttp://www.torontosun.com/blogs/thehill/2010/09/28/15509581.html
• The Ottawa Citizen: Court challenge, opposition both blast government over scrapped census http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Court+challenge+opposition+both+blast+government+over+scrapped+census/3586122/story.html
• The Toronto Star: Government knew costs of axing census, documents show Liberals, critics still hope census decision can be reversed http://www.thestar.com/article/866944–not-too-late-to-save-census-goodale
• The Montreal Gazette: Census compromise falls short, court told http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Census+compromise+falls+short+court+told/3588179/story.html
• The Whig Standard: Census Controversy in Court http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2774901
• Ottawa Sun: Opposition attacks government’s census policy http://www.ottawasun.com/news/canada/2010/09/26/15482996.html
• The Telegram: Shorter forms lead to census information shortage http://www.thetelegram.com/Opinion/Columns/2010-09-25/article-1793117/Shorter-forms-lead-to-census-information-shortage/1
• CTV News; Liberals introduce bill to reinstate long-form census http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Politics/20100930/bill-census-100930/
• Northumberland Review: Liberals Introduce Motion To Reinstate Mandatory Long-Form Census http://www.northumberlandview.ca/index.php?module=news&func=display&sid=4461
• Canadian Press: Layton loses bid for emergency census debate http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100920/national/census_scrubbed_2
• The Toronto Star: StatsCan credibility, independence feared damaged in census scrap http://themes.thestar.com/article/06NW8R08RT4WP/articles?q=
• The Montreal Gazette: NDP bid for census debate thwarted http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/census+debate+thwarted/3553691/story.html
• The Record: Census set to take centre stage on Parliament Hill http://news.therecord.com/News/CanadaWorld/article/782584
• Winnipeg Sun: Opposition attacks government’s census policy http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/canada/2010/09/26/15482801.html
• North Bay Nugget: Agencies defend censushttp://www.nugget.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2781578
• Times and Transcript: Dieppe protests federal census changes http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/news/article/1243621
• toronto Sun: Anger over Conservatives’ census decision heads to court and House of Commons votehttp://www.torontosun.com/blogs/thehill/2010/09/28/15508596.html
• The Toronto Star: Census debate: It just won’t go away http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/867582–census-debate-it-just-won-t-go-away
• The Montreal Gazette: Conservatives to stick with census planhttp://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Conservatives+stick+with+census+plan/3595019/story.html
• The Vancouver Sun: Court challenge, opposition both blast government over scrapped census http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Census+controversy+boils+over+Parliament/3586122/story.html#ixzz11no7H4cW
• Canadian Press: Conservative Snub Parliament, Ontario, Quebec on Census Reversal http://news.sympatico.ca/canada/conservatives_snub_parliament_ontario_quebec_on_census_reversal/ae00f43e
• The Mark: A bill will be tabled on Oct. 1 that would make it illegal to get rid of the long form census. http://www.themarknews.com/articles/2541-opposition-takes-census-fight-to-parliament
• The Winnipeg Sun: Tories reject census defeathttp://www.winnipegsun.com/news/canada/2010/09/29/15523896.html
• The Toronto Star: PM ‘confusing stubbornness with leadership’ over census, Ignatieff says http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/census/article/868232–pm-confusing-stubbornness-with-leadership-over-census-ignatieff-says
• Toronto Sun: Ontario and Quebec Ministers urge the Conservative government to reverse census decision http://www.torontosun.com/blogs/thehill/2010/09/29/15522631.html
• CBC News: MP launches bill to restore census http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/09/30/liberals-census-motion.html
• The Sault Star: City and local agency defend censushttp://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2779937
• The Winnipeg Free Press: Conservatives snub Parliament, Ontario, Quebec on census reversal http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/mobile/ontario-quebec-want-long-form-census-reinstated-as-soon-as-possible-103991754.html
• AOL News: Liberals Move To Reinstate Long-Form Census http://news.aol.ca/canada/article/liberals-move-to-reinstate-long-form/1299370
• The Globe and Mail: Tories haul out ‘coalition’ label in census spat with oppositionhttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/tories-haul-out-coalition-label-in-census-spat-with-opposition/article1731436/
• The Toronto Star: Speaker rejects NDP call for emergency census debate http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/census/article/863807–speaker-rejects-ndp-call-for-emergency-census-debate
• PostMedia News: Liberals tout bill to re-introduce long-form census http://www.canada.com/news/Liberals+tout+bill+introduce+long+form+census/3570495/story.html
• The Ottawa Citizen: Census change concerns brushed off by Clement http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Census+change+concerns+brushed+Clement/3565872/story.html
• North Bay Today: NDP keeps heat on census issue http://www.sootoday.com/content/news/full_story.asp?StoryNumber=48607
• The Toronto Star: Olive: Carney is a game-changing central banker http://www.thestar.com/article/865817–olive-carney-is-a-game-changing-central-banker
• CBC News: Census change challenge heads to Federal Court http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/09/26/census-court-challenge.html
• Post Media News: Court challenge, opposition both blast government over scrapped census http://www.canada.com/news/Census+controversy+boils+over+Parliament/3586122/story.html
• The Mark: A Francophone group is seeking an injunction against the voluntary survey that replaced the mandatory long-form census. http://www.themarknews.com/articles/2554-census-faces-court-challenge-today
• Canadian Press: Axing census costs data, feds admitted http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100927/national/census_challenge
• Ottawa Sun: Long-form census asks too much http://www.ottawasun.com/comment/editorial/2010/09/27/15493306.html
• CTV news: Feds knew they’d lose data in census switchhttp://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100927/census-court-100927/20100927/?hub=TorontoNewHome
• CFRA 580 News: Census Debate Continues http://www.cfra.com/?cat=3&nid=75934
• Winnipeg Free Press: Conservatives snub Parliament, Ontario, Quebec on census reversal http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/ontario-quebec-want-long-form-census-reinstated-as-soon-as-possible-103991754.html