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Jun 14 2023

Broken ATI. Shocking resignation. Facebook blocks.

Jun 14, 2023
David Akin's Roundup
Clippings of #cdnpoli, #media, and #tech content aimed at those with an interest in Canadian politics and policy. And sometimes Canadian postage stamps.
Canada
Info watchdog says improving transparency ‘not a priority’ for Trudeau government
For a $5 fee, Canadians can use the access law to request federal records, from briefing notes and reports to emails and invoices. [Global]
"Over the course of my time as Commissioner, I have observed the steady decline of the access to information system to the point where it no longer serves its intended purpose." Info Commissioner Caroline Maynard on the release of 2023 Annual Report. [Information Commissioner of Canada]
Dean Beeby spent more than 30 years at The Canadian Press and five years at CBC and at both organizations he won a reputation as Ottawa's dean of "ATI" reporters with an incredible knack of digging up all sorts of important government information via the federal Access to Information (ATI) Act. Now retired from newsroom life, Beeby was asked to testify at recent hearings of the House Access to Information and Ethics committee about much-needed reforms to our broken ATI system. The link here is his written submission to ETHI detailing what, in his view, are solutions to the system's most common failings. I endorse every one of them 100%. - DA.
Canadian politics: There's a broad desire for change, but discomfort with alternatives
Pollster Abacus Data finds the Conservatives have a 7-point lead on the Liberals. - DA [Abacus]
Commissioner Michael Duheme told MPs Tuesday the force is probing allegations that Beijing attempted to target and intimidate MPs Michael Chong, Erin O'Toole and Jenny Kwan. [Global]

Canada's chief justice says he has asked the national body that oversees the conduct of judges to consider making the process for dealing with complaints more transparent. [CP]
Emmett Macfarlane: Canadians should find this rote secrecy unacceptable. A respected Supreme Court judge has resigned ... and at the end of the day, Canadians will get no illumination on an incident that topples a top court judge? [Substack]

On what was supposed to be the first week of trial, lawyers for the four men accused of conspiring to murder RCMP officers during the border blockade and protests at Coutts, Alta., have asked a judge for an adjournment and to move the case from Lethbridge to a different city. [CBC]
Two opposition party leaders have now met to discuss the next steps for how the Liberal government should tackle the issue of foreign interference. [Global]
Report No. 11 of the Standing Committee on 
Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities of the House of Commons of Canada 44-1.
From the provinces
Double-digit advantage in Winnipeg has Manitoba NDP comfortably ahead in lead-up to October election
Poor ratings on cost of living and health care have PCs trailing NDP by five-points (44%-39%) [Angus Reid Institute]

The Manitoba government is taking out more advertising in the lead-up to the Oct. 3 provincial election and has more leeway to do so under recent changes to provincial law. [CP]

Bonnie Crombie filed her nomination papers on Tuesday, making her the fourth candidate in the race to lead the former governing party in Ontario. [Global]

The province's financial watchdog released a long-term spending forecast, based on the government's own figures, and uncovered a growing pool of unallocated taxpayer dollars. [Global]
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Elsewhere
NATO Has Switched to War Footing With Russia
As the war in Ukraine rages, NATO members will plan next month for the prospect of war with Moscow. [Newsweek]
Many GOP operatives who spoke with NBC News said the federal indictment against Trump is serious — and could cause problems for the party. [NBC]
Media
As Meta tests news blocking in Canada, here are the first targets
Meta is running a test blocking news content on Facebook and Instagram for some users in response to a Liberal government bill that would require tech giants to pay publishers. [Global]
Twitter has been a powerful tool for social movements. But since Elon Musk acquired the platform last year, some organizers and digital media experts have been bracing for the impact that his controversial policy changes and mass layoffs may have on social activism. [CNN]

Saying ‘no’ to this kind of visual content is a question of research integrity, consent, privacy and intellectual-property protection. [Nature]
Tech
As a generative AI training model is exposed to more AI-generated data, it performs worse, producing more errors, leading to model collapse. [Venture Beat]
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Issued this day ...
... in 1963: Sc #411: Canadian Exports. Design: Alan L. Pollock.
I'm sure stamp designers look forward with anticipation to their next assignment, hoping perhaps for a dramatic subject -- space exploration, new scientific discoveries, momentous global events and so on. And then there's poor Alan Pollock who came to work one day to be told: Do a stamp on, er, Canadian exports. Well, here it is. Don't know if one could have done much more with that! 

The value of Canada's exports in 1962, for what it's worth, was not particularly exceptional. Canada exported goods and services worth $7.4B that year, equivalent to 17.7% of GDP, abot the same as prior years. For reference, for the most recent full year of data -- 2021 -- Canada was exporting $611B worth of goods and services, equivalent to about 31% of GDP. But exports relative to GDP have been declining since peaking at 44% of GDP -- (or $329B) in 2000. 

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