From an Aug. 9 column in The Star by j-prof Kelly Toughill:

She quoted long-time ATI researcher Ken Rubin.

The act was not written to open the government to public scrutiny, he says; it was written to codify secrecy. It is the job and responsibility of journalists to fight that trend to secrecy.

"It is still about straight persistence and struggle. You have to keep up with it. You have to persevere."

I spent big chunks of the last year in countries where journalists risk jail, exile or violence for criticizing elected officials. When I returned, a friend rather smugly asked if it was wonderful to be back in a land with a free press.

Not really.

It is an insult to journalists who fight for basic freedoms to take for granted the freedoms that we have in Canada. Instead of luxuriating in our ability to work without fear, we should be pressing for better access to information. We should be forcing federal, provincial and municipal governments to open up their hard drives and filing cabinets so that Canadians can truly understand the hard choices at hand, and participate fully in democracy.