Manitoba government dishonest about at-risk youth hotel housing costs: PCs

The Progressive Conservatives slammed the province andChild and Family Services (CFS) Minister Kerri Irvin-RossFriday for not disclosingrecords that show thecost of housing at-risk youth in Manitoba hotel.

Brian Pallister said the PCs filed a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) in October of 2014. Four months later, the province responded and claimed those records do not exist, he said.

The province responded saying it "does not track the information requested in theFIPPAapplication."

It is not uncommon for FIPPAresponses to come back stating documents do not exist. It is possible information is contained in documents not covered by the request. The legislation does state the government "shall make every reasonable effort to assist an applicant and to respond without delay, openly, accurately and completely."

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This means the NDP minister either lacks transparency by not providing this public information, or she has no idea what is going on in her own department, Pallister said in a release.Both scenarios are alarming, saidPallister.

Because theprovince wasnt able to produce the financial information on at-risk youth housing costs, Pallister said Irvin-Ross's departmentwas either being dishonest or is too incompetent to care for at-risk children.

The spokesperson added"non-partisan FIPPA coordinators work to answer freedom of information requests in a timely fashion."

The amount of FIPPA applications filed by the PCs since 2009 has tripled.The province'sspokesperson said the Opposition filed 350 FIPPA requests in 2009 and 1,441 in 2014.

CFScameunder scrutiny last fall,after CBC News revealed dozens of teenagers were being placed in Winnipeg hotels every day, with some saying they have witnessed prostitution and been introduced to drug use during their stays.