Here's a short thread about how the Trudeau government's efforts to destroy the Access to Information system have severely hobbled our ability to cover the vaccine rollout.

Last week, I noted that Health Canada has insisted it just has no documents around the Cansino project. Just must not have come up! https://twitter.com/Justin_Ling/status/1356640556198354951

Well I also filed for documents from the National Research Council in August. They're the ones who partnered with Cansino. In September, they emailed to say that they would need until December 18. So four months to hand over some briefing notes.

December 18 comes and goes. I follow up last month asking: Hey, where's my documents? When are you going to get my documents? Why aren't you getting the documents now? And so on.

NRC comes back and says: "We sincerely apologize for the delay." No timeline.

This is the Access to Information system in a nutshell. The law says departments have 30 days to respond, but can seek extensions into perpetuity. If they can't meet their self-imposed deadlines? Who cares! Time is a flat circle.

Can I complain to the Information Commissioner? Yes, and they may rectify the situation in 4-8 months from now, if they can ever get to it. Either way, I'm left waiting.

In a world where this system worked, and where the Trudeau government fixed it like they swore they would, journalists in this country would actually be able to report on key details of this vaccine program.

Instead, we're left begging Ottawa for scraps of information.

I got angry and asked the Prime Minister about it this morning.

You may be shocked to learn that I'm very aware of the changes his government has made: https://www.canadaland.com/liberal-freedom-of-information-bill-garbage/