In recent years, governments at every level have made a fetish of privacy. For the most part, this has been part of a good-faith effort to protect ordinary Canadians from identity theft, unwanted publicity, and other pitfalls of the information age. Unfortunately, the privacy doctrine is also being used as a fig leaf by cynical government officials who wish to hide embarrassing information.
An example comes courtesy of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), which refuses to divulge the identity of any scientist who runs afoul of its research or financial-accountability guidelines. The council insists Canada’s Privacy Act has tied its hands, and so it cannot “out” so-called “rogue researchers” without violating the alleged culprits’ rights.
This is twisted logic. The country’s privacy laws were not meant to shield those who seek to defraud taxpayers; they were meant to protect law-abiding citizens from the prying eyes of governments and large corporations. When working Canadians’ tax dollars are abused, they should be given the details.
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