The deadly train derailment in Lac-Mégantic raised serious questions about rail safety. Too bad the federal government seems intent on keeping Canadians in the dark for as long as possible about safety gaps in Canada’s rail system.

Canada’s access to information law gives the public the right to request records under the control of any federal government institution. Reading these kind of records is pure gold because the documents are unfiltered. In other words, they don't go through the Conservative government spin machine.

There are exemptions, but the government needs to justify those. The government is also supposed to hand over the records within a certain number of days.

Now get this: Transport Canada says it needs 340 days – yes, almost a full year – to process a request from PressProgress about records on the derailment in just one office – the Transport Minister’s Office – covering just a 30-day period immediately after the crash.

The department also says it needs a full year – yes, 365 days – for departmental records produced within 30 days of the derailment that discuss rail deregulation.

It looks like there's a pattern here. Reporters who have filed access to information requests about the Lac-Mégantic train derailment are getting the same line: we'll see you in a year.

The backdrop to all this is Canada’s information commissioner Suzanne Legault recent warning of "previously unseen delays, a resource crunch, and a government and public service with a laissez-faire approach to following the access law."

Legault said: "The faltering in the system is actually quite dramatic and it's not getting better." What does this mean? "When the access to information system falters, the health of our Canadian democracy is at risk," she said.

See you in a year, Transport Canada.

The Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado-Boulder has released a new report that is a must-read for Canada’s environment minister, Leona Aglukkaq.

Aglukkaq, who represents the northern riding of Nunavut, began her tenure as environment minister with a bit of a blunder, when she cast doubt on climate change.

The new INSTARR study, flagged by ThinkProgress, should help fill in some blanks. "Average summer temperatures in the Eastern Canadian Arctic during the last 100 years are higher now than during any century in the past 44,000 years and perhaps as long ago as 120,000 years," the summary states.

For a longer read, check out the academic paper about the research, titled "Unprecedented recent summer warmth in Arctic Canada." 

Photo: pmorgan. Used under a Creative Commons BY 2.0 licence.

Now that the dust has settled, here’s a roundup of 10 new policies of the Conservative Party that passed at the party's weekend convention in Calgary — and why they're bad for Canada. The party wants the government to:

1. Bring in a less progressive taxation system to cut taxes for the rich and have less tax revenue overall to pay for vital programs and services.

2. Attack collective bargaining by putting an end to mandatory union membership because unions "limit the economic freedom of Canadians and stifle economic growth."

3. Undermine the ability of unions to bargain on an equal footing with employers by having an opt-out provision of union dues.

4. Require greater transparency on activities of federal public service unions in a bid to restrict their ability to fight for strong public services for everyone.

5. Gut public sector pensions in a race to the bottom on pensions so defined benefit plans become obsolete in both the private and public sectors — and retirement insecurity in Canada is universal.

6. Bring public sector benefits and pensions in line with the private sector to lower the bar for all  — rather than raise the bar for everyone.

7. Hands off our guns.

8. Condemn the "discrimination of girls through gender selection" in a push to reopen the abortion debate in Canada.

9. Fight efforts to "legalise euthanasia or assisted suicide."

10. Let faith-based groups refuse the use of their facilities to people who don't line up with their beliefs.

Photo: jeffandgennine. Used under a Creative Commons BY 2.0 licence.