OTTAWA -
The Prime Minister's Office says political aides should not interfere with the decisions public servants make when deciding what documents to release under access to information laws.
Spokesman Dimitri Soudas would not comment directly on a case in which a top political aide to the Public Works minister overruled bureaucrats and forbid the release of a sensitive report to The Canadian Press.
But Soudas said political staff should respect the decisions made by department officials doing their jobs.
He declined to say whether there would be repercussions for the aide to Christian Paradis, who was transferred with his minister to Natural Resources last month.
A spokesman for a British Columbia-based freedom of information association called the interference "outrageous" and said the aide may be liable to prosecution under the Access to Information Act.
The report at the centre of the controversy outlined details of Public Works' real estate portfolio.
