....Did not manage to paste this in my last post about the mandate letters...

Access to other records at stake

The Centre for Free Expression, Canadian Association of Journalists, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, and News Media Canada were granted status in the case to argue about the dangers of what they consider a broadening of the interpretation of the cabinet record exemption by the province.

"[The province is] treating cabinet secrecy like this big black hole, where anything that comes anywhere close to the cabinet falls into the black hole and can be kept from the public for years," Turk said.

Regardless of whether the mandate letters are made public before the election, Turk argues the threat of the government's broad interpretation could block access to other records in the future.

"If [the Supreme Court] accepts the argument the province is putting forward, then democracy in Canada is going to be much the worse as a result," he said. 

Ford issued a new set of mandate letters to his cabinet ministers in the fall of last year.

CBC News filed an access-to-information request for the records, which was denied. The decision cited the cabinet record exemption in the provincial privacy act, along with three new exemptions for advice to government, solicitor-client privilege and records that "affect the economic or other interests of Ontario." CBC News has appealed the decision to the privacy commissioner.

Cost to deny access unknown

It's unclear how many tax dollars and government resources have been spent trying to deny the public access to the mandate letters.

For more than two years, CBC News has been trying to obtain information on how much time Crown attorneys have devoted to the mandate letter case. The Ministry of the Attorney General has denied two access-to-information requests, claiming attorney-client privilege.

TM.