[CivicAccess-discuss] Canada - Bad kids at the open government table! OGP and extractive industries

Thu Jun 19 22:51:38 AEST 2014

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [ogp] FW: iPolitics article -
Who's influencing extractive industry transparency policy? That's a secret
Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2014 11:19:52 +0000 (GMT)From: mlitvinoff at pwypuk.org <
mlitvinoff at pwypuk.org> Reply-To: mlitvinoff at pwypuk.orgTo: OGP Civil Society
group <ogp at dgroups.org>

Illuminating contrast between Canada and the UK below.

Miles

Miles Litvinoff

Coordinator | Publish What You Pay UK

mlitvinoff at pwypuk.org

t: +44 (0)1442 825060

m: +44 (0)7984 720103

Skype: miles_litvinoff

www.publishwhatyoupay.org

http://www.ipolitics.ca/2014/06/19/whos-influencing-extractive-industry-transparency-policy-thats-a-secret/
Who’s
influencing extractive industry transparency policy? That’s a secret

By James Munson <http://www.ipolitics.ca/author/james-munson-2/> | Jun 19,
2014 5:00 am |

In supreme bureaucratic irony, the public won’t get a full picture of who
is influencing the design of a federal policy on resource-sector
transparency, despite international guidelines on open government that
demand a complete disclosure of lobby groups.

Ottawa has received thirty-two submissions that advise the government on
how the Mandatory Reporting Standards for the Extractive Sector should be
amended, but Natural Resources Canada won’t publish them online at the
request of their authors, said a department spokesperson.

The secrecy would be odd enough given the consultations deal with
transparency in the mining and petroleum industries, but there is an added
layer of peculiarity because the submissions were gathered under the
Treasury Board’s high-profile Open Government action plan
<http://data.gc.ca/eng/canadas-action-plan-open-government>.

The plan, heavily promoted by Treasury Board President Tony Clement as a
historic <http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/media/ps-dp/2012/0417-eng.asp> shift in
how the public can relate to their government thanks to advances in
communication technology like Twitter, has guidelines outlined by the
international Open Government Partnership.

These guidelines say that consultations performed under the plan must be
published online
<http://www.opengovpartnership.org/sites/default/files/attachments/Action%20Plan%20Template%20and%20Guidance%202014.pdf>,
or that the government must at least provided a summary
<http://www.opengovpartnership.org/sites/default/files/attachments/Additional%20Guidance%20Consultation%202014.pdf>,
according to Paul Maassen, civil society coordinator for the Open
Government Partnership Hub in The Hague, Netherlands.

“The official guidelines on this one is countries have to at least publish
a summary of the submissions they receive…and in principle put all
submissions online,” said Maassen, whose group works closely with the
partnership.

Countries are to make a summary of the public consultation and individual
written comment should be made available online if possible. – See more at:
http://www.opengovpartnership.org/how-it-works/requirements#sthash.ckwRhaL8.dpuf

The submissions outline comments on how Ottawa should go about launching
the Mandatory Reporting Standards for the Extractive Sector. The standards
will require mining and petroleum companies to publish documents with a
regulatory agency that outline all payments to governments. They are part
of an international effort, started by the United States and Europe, to
weaken corruption in the extractive business.

Natural Resources Canada released proposed rules earlier this year and took
in submissions until May 9. But only 15 submissions — eleven documents and
three comments from individuals — have been published online
<http://data.gc.ca/eng/content/comments-received-response-consultation-mandatory-reporting-standards-extractive-sector>
.

“The department has published submissions when the senders have provided
permission to do so,” wrote departmental spokesperson Jacinthe Perras in an
email. “Please note that information submitted to the department is
collected, used and disclosed in accordance with the Access to Information
Act and the Privacy Act.”

The total tally of 46 submissions come from groups as diverse as provincial
and territorial governments, industry associations, civil society,
investors, aboriginal representatives and private citizens, wrote Perras.

Until Wednesday, one group that declined to publish its submission was the
Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), the country’s largest
oil and gas industry group. After several email exchanges with the
association’s media team last week, CAPP did not reply to a request to
provide its submission.

On Wednesday afternoon, CAPP’s submission
<http://data.gc.ca/sites/default/files/5a-capp.pdf>, along with that of
Talisman <http://data.gc.ca/sites/default/files/5h_talisman.pdf> Energy
Inc., was published online.

Two industry groups – the Mining Association of Canada and the Prospectors
and Developers Association of Canada – have been working with civil society
groups over the past two years to design the new transparency measures, a
stark difference compared to the preference for secrecy in other parts of
the private sector.

“Taking steps to ensure transparency of written submissions was critical,
not only to the government fulfilling its obligations under the Open
Government Partnership, but more broadly to ensure the integrity of the
initiative itself,” said Claire Woodside, director of Publish What You Pay
Canada, one of the civil society groups that partnered with the miners on
the reporting standards.

The government has been practicing openness with a double standard since
unveiling its Open Government plan, said MP Charmaine Borg, the New
Democrats’ critic for open government.

“We’ve seen a lot of double-speak from the government when it comes to open
data,” said Borg on Wednesday. “We’ve seen them publish a bunch of data
sets that no one is actually searching for, and on the other hand not being
able to disclose budgetary information.”

The United Kingdom, also a member of the Open Government Partnership, did
not promise confidentiality to those who submitted comments in its
consultation for extractive sector transparency standards. Rather, it
requires groups to explain why they want their comments kept secret.

“If we receive a request for disclosure of the information we will take
full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that
confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances,” says the country’s
consultation paper.

“The UK is one country that does it really well,” said Maassen.

If Canada is going to seek a seat on the Open Government Partnership’s
steering committee, a rumour that Maassen has heard, the issues related to
the extractive transparency laws should matter, he said.

“You would expect (Canada) to be a shining example,” said Maassen.

The government is drafting the mandatory reporting standards this summer
and plans to introduce them as legislation in September
<http://data.gc.ca/eng/forms/consultation-mandatory-reporting-standards-extractive-sector>
.

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Programmable City Project
National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA)
NUI Maynooth
Maynooth
Co. Kildare
Republic of Ireland

Tel: 353-1-708-6146
Tracey.Lauriault at NUIM.iehttp://www.nuim.ie/progcity/

-- 
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http://traceyplauriault.wordpress.com/2013/07/23/moving-to-ireland/
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