The idea of putting teeth into the Nova Scotia act began in the fall of 1993, when the newly elected Liberal government of John Savage fulfilled a campaign promise to introduce a revamped Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Based on the British Columbia model, the legislation streamlined procedures and opened up many traditionally secret cabinet documents. Each department designated officials to process requests, ending the ad hoc treatment of the past. The best feature was the appointment of a review officer with the right to examine withheld documents and recommend their release. The review costs nothing and, while the recommendation is not binding, the government has complied in most cases.
Applicants retain the right of taking the government to court to force compliance.
The government also established an advisory committee to assess the act after its first year of operation and to consider extending it to other public bodies. Among its six members were myself and a former television journalist, Harris Sullivan. The committee received more than 20 submissions and interviewed the Information Commissioner of Canada, John Grace, and others before filing its report in March 1996. Its 65 recommendations included extending the act, within one year, to municipal governments, school boards, universities and colleges, hospitals, self-governing societies and some 250 boards and agencies. The report fell victim to the political agenda.