Restaurant inspection reports may go online

The Newfoundland and Labrador government is reconsidering its position on making restaurant inspection reports more easily available to the public.

Last year CBC News paid hundreds of dollars to get restaurant reports through access to information requests.

Now, the new minister of public engagement is looking into making such reports easier to see.

"For example, inspections that are done by a particular department … those are the kind of reports that we could put on a website," Keith Hutchings said.

"They wouldn't have to go through the formal process of asking the department for that information under freedom of information."

In June, former Service NL minister Paul Davis pointed to the number of access to information requests the government had received, in a debate about overhauling the province's access to information legislation.

"I'll even give you an example of a fishing expedition," Davis said at the time.

"They asked for all restaurant inspection reports for the months of January and February."

Both British Columbia and Ontario publish restaurant inspection reports online.