Morning Update: Government cuts the budget of Information Commissioner

News Snapshot:

Good morning, Federal Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard says the Trudeau government has cut her budget by 5 per cent, a move that will make it even more difficult to press Ottawa for information that Canadians request or to take the government to court. Maynard on Thursday told the House of Commons committee on access to information, privacy and ethics that the Treasury Board department cut her budget by $700,000. She also testified that the country’s access-to-information laws have been recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada as “quasi-constitutional” in nature, meaning they are almost as important as the Charter of...