St. John’s, N.L. (December 3, 2024) – Progressive Conservative Leader and MHA for Stephenville-Port au Port Tony Wakeham, and New Democratic Party Leader and MHA for St. John’s Centre Jim Dinn, are voicing strong opposition to the process being used to appoint a new Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC).
On November 5, 2024, Government House Leader John Hogan introduced a motion to the order paper proposing the appointment of a specific person as the Information and Privacy Commissioner, effective November 25, 2024. Despite objections from both opposition leaders over the lack of transparency and failure to provide all caucus leaders with a complete roster of qualified candidates as required by law, the Liberal government appears determined to proceed with a vote in the House of Assembly to rubber-stamp a name the opposition leaders had no part in choosing.
“This IPC appointment process undermines the extensive work conducted during the 2014 and 2020 statutory reviews, which intended that all caucus leaders work to reach a consensus on a new commissioner from a full roster,” said Wakeham.
“By failing to consult with party leaders, the government has shown a blatant lack of transparency and disregard for the collaborative approach recommended by those reviews. Our caucus cannot support this motion and will debate it in the House until a full list of qualified candidates, along with the rationale for the selection, is provided.”
The role of the commissioner, as an independent officer of the House of Assembly, is to be tough on the government, to ensure proper access to information that needs to be in the public domain and proper protection of people’s privacy. The 2020 statutory review emphasized that the appointment process must therefore include substantial input from the legislative branch, ensuring opposition party leaders have a meaningful role in reviewing and consulting on multiple candidates before a final selection is made. Both the 2014 and 2020 reviews underscored the importance of presenting multiple candidates to safeguard the perception of the IPC’s independence from the government.
“New Democrats cannot, in good conscience, support the appointment of a new IPC without full consultation with all sides of the legislature and the presentation of a complete shortlist of qualified candidates,” said Dinn.
“We want to ask questions and get answers from the selection committee. We need to see their work. This current approach undermines transparency and accountability—the very principles this office is meant to uphold.”
Both the New Democrats and the Progressive Conservatives have confirmed they will not support the resolution to appoint a new Information and Privacy Commissioner unless the government adopts a transparent and inclusive process, as outlined in past statutory reviews, and are provided with a full roster of qualified candidates for this position, as required by section 85 of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy (ATIPPA) legislation.