Federal review of Access to Information law to likely take another year

It will likely be another year before a federal review of the government’s key transparency law is complete.

Newly released terms of reference for the government study of the Access to Information Act say a report will be submitted to the Treasury Board president by Jan. 31 of next year.

The review, announced last June, has prompted skepticism from open-government advocates who point to a pile of reports done over the years on reforming the access law.

The law, introduced in 1983, allows people who pay $5 to ask for a range of federal documents, but it has been widely criticized as antiquated and poorly administered.

Ken Rubin, a long-time user of the access law, says putting the government in charge of reviewing its own secrecy and delay problems was never a good idea.

He says the Liberals should either present a new transparency bill before the next general election or let Parliament and the public figure out how to improve access to federal records.

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