Access to Information and the Health of Democracies

In getting caught up on my reading of the Saturday Star this morning, I came across a column by Katy English entitled, English: Words can change the world. Referring to the recent upheavals in the Middle East, she reflects upon the vial role that access to information plays in a healthy and democratic society. While she shows restraint in making comparisons with Canada, I couldn't help but juxtapose the Middle East restrictions on information she discusses with our own limited access to information that has become something of a fetish for the Harper Government.

Whether we are talking about Afghan detainee documents, spending estimates for government bills, political ads that seek to inspire fear and loathing of 'the other,' or answers to questions about CIDA funding, we, and the people we elect to represent in Parliament, are being treated with the same contempt shown by Middle East despots who have been doing everything in their power to keep the people under their oppressive dictates.