The Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) released open letters sent to the leaders of the three main Nova Scotian political parties, the Liberal PartyProgressive Conservative Association and New Democratic Party, along with the responses of each party (Liberal/PC/NDP). Sent in the middle of an election campaign, the open letters requested party leaders to make election promises to conduct a comprehensive review of the local right to information (RTI) act, the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPOP) and to make three more specific commitments. All three parties responded in a timely manner to our letters, but all failed to make the requested promises, instead repeating vague promises to improve the act that have proven ineffective in the past.

Although Nova Scotia was the first jurisdiction in Canada to adopt an RTI law, in 1977, the act has not been significantly reformed since then. In 2013, CLD published an Analysis of the FOIPOP Act that includes a comprehensive list of 18 recommendations for reform. Of those 18 recommendations, the open letter called on leaders to make specific commitments to three, chosen by CLD for their overriding importance to transparency and accountability