Yeah, we said a lot of crazy stuff

This little corner has had great merriment at the expense of one particular pledge in the 2003 Blue Sheet:

A Progressive Conservative government will:

• Release to the public every government-commissioned report within 30 days of receiving it, indicate the action government will take on a report's recommendations within 60 days, and ensure prompt public access to all government reports in hard copy and on the Internet.

However, that particular, well-broken, campaign promise actually comes sequentially after this one:

A Progressive Conservative government will:

• Proclaim new Freedom of Information legislation which will include amendments that will clearly identify information that should be in the public domain, including cabinet documents, and will require full and prompt disclosure of the information to the public.

Whatever:

Item — St. John's Telegram, June 4, 2005, Rob Antle reporting: In early January - at the height of the Atlantic Accord dispute - the Williams administration commissioned a poll that, in part, asked Canadians whether the province should accept the deal then on the table, or continue to fight Ottawa... The Williams administration fought for nearly five months to block the information's release.

Item — St. John's Telegram, June 29, 2005, Rob Antle reporting: The Newfoundland government maintains that some opinion polls are secret cabinet documents not to be released to the public, despite the views of the province's information commissioner... "We disagree with the interpretation that's been put on this by the information and privacy commissioner," acting justice minister Tom Rideout said Tuesday... The province says releasing public-opinion polling commissioned over a 14-month period would reveal cabinet confidences.

Item — CBC Radio News, June 30, 2005: Cabinet minister Tom Rideout says releasing such information would violate the principle of cabinet secrecy. "We think we have a responsibility to preserve that tradition, preserve that underpinning of British parliamentary democracy, that cabinet discussions are secret," Rideout says.

Item — St. John's Telegram, July 2, 2005, Rob Antle reporting: Revealing the details of some public-opinion polls viewed by cabinet would be akin to allowing television cameras to film their meetings, Premier Danny Williams says... "If we're going to allow cabinet secrecy and cabinet documentation to be wide open, well, maybe we just roll the cameras into the cabinet room and have open cabinet meetings," Williams said. "That's not the way government runs. That's not the tradition in government. So we have to strike a balance."

Item — St. John's Telegram, July 13, 2005, Rob Antle reporting: The Williams administration formally confirmed Tuesday that it will ignore a recent ruling by the province's information commissioner. Commissioner Phil Wall had ruled that some government polling information should be released under new open-records laws. The province maintains the data is secret cabinet information... The two-page letter, written by clerk of the Executive Council Robert Thompson - the province's top civil servant - confirmed the government would not accept Wall's decision.

Item — CBC News, July 28, 2005: The Williams government is defying the information commissioner by refusing to release polling data to the public... "It's not the content of the polls it's the precedent," says Premier Danny Williams. "Once you do it, then that opens the door to precedent for that type of information coming from cabinet, which again is not in the best interest of cabinet." Tom Rideout, the acting justice minister, says releasing such information would violate the principle of cabinet secrecy. "We think we have a responsibility to preserve that tradition, preserve that underpinning of British parliamentary democracy, that cabinet discussions are secret," Rideout says.

Item — St. John's Telegram, October 20, 2005, Rob Antle reporting: The province may change new open-records laws if it loses a court challenge filed by its information commissioner, Premier Danny Williams says. "If it means that, as a result of a court decision, confidential cabinet information will be made available that shouldn't be, then I will change the legislation," Williams told the editorial board of The Telegram this week.

Item — Information and Privacy Commissioner, November 7, 2005: The Department withheld previously released information under the mandatory section 27 in several other areas within the responsive records... The information on page 35 was also withheld under section 20(1)(a). This information had all been released by way of a news release, annual report or mineral exploration document available on government’s website... In addition to information previously released by government, the Department withheld information previously revealed in newspaper articles.

Item — St. John's Telegram, December 4, 2005, Rob Antle reporting: Among the partial sentences deemed secret cabinet advice by the government for the past nine months: "This hospital is 40 years old."

Item — St. John's Telegram, TWO DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS, 2005, Rob Antle reporting: After a year of fighting against a Telegram open-records request for government polling data, the Williams administration has avoided an impending court battle by releasing the information, three days before Christmas. The province had maintained the disclosure of the polls would reveal the secret deliberations of cabinet. A spokeswoman for Premier Danny Williams said Thursday he was never personally against the release of the polls, and never considered them cabinet documents.

Item — CBC News, today: The Newfoundland and Labrador government is not releasing documents that outline why it decided to collapse health boards into four large authorities, including Eastern Health. CBC News applied under access to information legislation to see documents relating to the 2004 decision to amalgamate hospital, nursing home and community health boards into four large boards. Little information was released, and 106 pages of the internal decision-making process are considered largely a cabinet secret, CBC was told.