B.C.’s premier’s office would be exempt from citizen’s information requests under proposed Freedom of Information and Privacy Act changes, the provincial information and privacy commissioner has said.

In an open letter to Minister of Citizen’s Service Lisa Beare, commissioner Michael McEvoy urged the removal of the exemption from changes proposed in Bill 22 – the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Amendment Act, 2021 (FIPPA).

The act not only covers the privacy of British Columbians but also governs how citizens can make applications for information from the government and which public bodies are open to such scrutiny.

“The Office of the Premier lies at the heart of provincial governance,” McEvoy said. “I call on the government to delete this proposal from Bill 22, for greater certainty that FIPPA’s transparency and accountability provisions will continue to apply, as they have for decades, to the Office of the Premier.”…read more.