Prime Minister Mark Carney’s own department, the Privy Council Office (PCO), has become the bad boy of freedom of information in Canada.

That’s the clear message of a new report from Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard, the independent officer of Parliament who polices the system.

Maynard’s 2025-26 report, released in June, singles out PCO as the next-to-worst of some 265 federal institutions for their compliance with the legal requirements of the Access to Information Act.

She issued 63 orders against PCO last year compelling officials to disclose information they had improperly withheld from requesters, a record for the department and a clear indicator of trouble. That number is a steep rise from 25 orders in 2023-24 and 42 in 2024-25.

Only National Defence scored worse last year, racking up 67 such orders. But Maynard was complimentary in her latest report, arguing National Defence has cleaned up its act and is on track for a much better performance in the next year.

She also applauded Library and Archives Canada for mopping up their access-to-info mess. The agency dramatically reduced the number of orders against it to 16 last year, from 104 just two years ago, when it was by far the worst performer across government.

But Maynard was sharply critical of PCO, whose performance she noted has been in a years-long, steep decline. The bad outcomes have persisted despite her warning letter to Carney shortly after the April election last year, and despite a personal meeting with Michael Sabia, clerk of the Privy Council, on Nov. 12.

(A fuller version of this article appeared in Dean’s newsletter.)