The Liberals certainly understand the need to let a little sunshine into the back rooms of government. That's why they have committed themselves to "transparency and accountability" in the way Ontario is administered.

They also understand the political utility of greater access to information, which is why they moved in December to open up the shrouded files of Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation. The government benefited from the publicity over the spending habits of executives appointed by the Progressive Conservatives.

The test of how committed Premier Dalton McGuinty is to lifting what his campaign documents called "the veil of secrecy on government agencies and appointments" will come sooner rather than later.

The government is facing pressure from student and faculty organizations to bring universities under Ontario's 16-year-old Freedom of Information Act.

These groups argue that universities, which receive nearly $2-billion a year in public grants, ought to be subject to the same scrutiny as government departments and agencies.

"They're public institutions," said Joel Duff of the Canadian Federation of Students. "It doesn't seem like rocket science to think they should be accountable."

It's an old argument, left over from the last time the Liberals held office.

Universities were not specifically included in the1987 legislation passed by former premier David Peterson's government, but there was provision for "institutions" to be designated later.

The discussion about including universities continued sporadically for the next seven years. The Council of Ontario Universities argued that as autonomous privately chartered institutions, universities should be exempt from FOI laws.

The council pledged, however, to establish guidelines for access to information that would reflect the spirit of the provincial legislation.

In 1992, with the New Democratic Party in government, a legislative committee recommended that the law apply to any agency receiving more than $50,000 in public funds.

The COU responded by drafting a set of guidelines that didn't meet the government's favour.

In 1994, Charles Pascal, then deputy minister of education, noted in a letter to the COU that the government had asked twice for the guidelines to be strengthened, and "it appears that little real progress has been made."

Mr. Pascal said this week that the NDP was poised to include universities under the legislation.

But the COU was able to rag the puck until a 1995 election brought the Conservatives to office, and the issue died.

Other provinces, notably British Columbia and Quebec, include universities in freedom-of-information legislation.

But Ontario's institutions remain outside the legislation, although community colleges, which are considered Crown corporations, are not exempt.

Several universities, including the University of Toronto, have their own policies, but many others deal with requests for information on a case-by-case basis.

Mr. Duff said the need for sunshine has grown as universities establish closer relations with corporate donors. He suggested it is important, for example, to examine public-private partnerships under the former SuperBuild program to ensure that donors did not influence curriculum or research choices.

The Ontario Confederation of Faculty Associations has added its voice to the growing debate, saying it's a "major weakness" to leave universities exempt from the FOI system.

Michael Doucet, the organization's president, praised the government for its decision to allow the provincial Auditor access to universities' accounts.

But he noted that his members have found it "increasingly difficult" to obtain information from campus administrators and that the judgment about what can be withheld should be taken out of their hands.

It will be left to Management Board chairman Gerry Phillips to figure out whether Mr. McGuinty's pledge to make "all government agencies" subject to FOI applies to universities.

He said he needs to determine whether the COU is living up to its promise to set up its own access system.

"If that hasn't happened, we need to look into why," Mr. Philliips said.

Source: Globe & Mail On-Line, Wednesday February 18, 2004