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Don't Cut Info Commissioner's Power: lawyer Attempts by the federal government to curb Information Commissioner John Reid's investigative powers could make it impossible for him to do his job, his lawyer told a court yesterday in a case that holds serous implications for Canada' information law. The governments argues Mr. Reid's office overstepped its authority in two investigations by asking "inappropriate" questions during interviews with former defence minister Art Eggleton and Prime Minister Jean Chretien's then-chief of staff, Jean Pelletier. But any erosion of Mr. Reid's power to interview witnesses "could have a significant impact on the ability of the commissioner to exercise his office," lawyer Raynold Langlois argued before the Federal Court. The court hearing under way this week comes as the climax of a three-year battle between Mr. Reid and the Prime Minister's Office over the handling of requests for documents that reach into the highest levels of government. The documents were requested through The Access to Information Act, which allows anyone to get information from the government for a $5 fee. The most politically charged of the access requests in the case- filed by an unnamed person - seeks Mr. Chretiens's daily agendas, which chart his minute-by-minute whereabouts over a four-and-a-half-year period beginning in 1994. The court is hearing arguments about the agendas along with other access requests that raise similar legal issues, including a request for documents about the decision to block a British peerage for publisher Conrad Black. Also at issue is a request filed by Citizen reporter David Pugliese for notes from meetings between Mr. Eggleton, his staff, and senior Department of National Defence staff. The Citizen and Mr. Publiese are represented during the hearings. In all cases, the government refused to release the documents because it consider them ministerial in nature - not under control of departmental staff- and therefore not subject to the Access laws. Mr. Reid is still investigating whether the documents should be released, but the government has frustrated his probe by filing court challenges on his powers to subpoena witnesses, compel them to give evidence, and even make photocopies of documents he obtains. Government lawyers filed 29 court applications against Mr. Reid's investigations. But Mr. Reid needs to be able to ask witnesses any relevant questions about their department to properly investigate complaints, Mr. Langlois told the court. "Investigation is a cornerstone of the Access tot Information Act" he said. "When you do something to the cornerstone of the building, it falls". The government claims that Mr. Reid's deputy, Alan Leadbeater, risked creating "substantial mischief" with certain questions during the confidential interviews he conduced with Mr. Pelletier and Mr. Eggleton in 2000. The exact nature of the questions that raise the government's ire is not known publicly, because the examinations were conducted in secret and arguments about them this week were heard during an in camera session. In open court on Monday, lawyer Peter Doody argued that the Access law
is not intended to give the information commissioner or his staff complete
freedom to ask whatever they like. "The questions were not relevant
to things that were complained about- that is, are (the documents) in
the control of the government institution" Mr. Doody said. "He
(can't) ask questions about whatever he wishes and ride around compelling
witness to answer any question." Mr. Doody also suggested that the
question could have forced the witness to violate cabinet confidentiality.
This information could eventually end up in the public domain, he said.
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