Public Safety Minister Sen. David Burch has a well-earned reputation for being one of the more colourful and outspoken Ministers in the Cabinet. But the Senator, who recently voted against his Government on a motion to establish a joint select committee on crime without earning a rebuke, is given a great deal of latitude, presumably due to his reputation for hard work and effectiveness in his multiple portfolios.

However, there are times when he goes over the line and last week's questioning of businesses whose employees had signed a petition protesting the changes to the Corporations of Hamilton and St. George's is one of them. After receiving letters of objection to the changes containing the signatories' e-mail addresses, e-mails were sent to employers by the Ministry asking if the employee's view was shared by the company and asked that if it was, the company put its comments in writing to be passed to Senator Burch. In at least once case, the e-mail was prefaced with the remark that Sen. Burch was "not at all pleased" to have received the letter from the company's employee.

Even if the Government genuinely wanted to know if the employee was writing on behalf of the company, such a request should have come from Minister Zane DeSilva who was responsible for the bill. But even the tone deaf should recognise that having the Ministry responsible for Immigration send out such e-mails and to preface them with the remark that the Minister was "not at all pleased" could only be read as being threatening. In that context, this is an outright assault on the rights of individuals to hold political opinions and to make them known.

Intimidating behaviour of this kind when work permits can be given and withdrawn at the discretion of the Minister sends the wrong message to all individuals and businesses and will have done more harm to Bermuda's already shaky reputation for stability and respect for due process. Sen. Burch should apologise for the e-mails or resign.

Hello, PATI

Premier Dr. Ewart Brown's government deserves credit for passage of the Public Access to Information Act in the House of Assembly on Friday.

Former Premier Alex Scott deserves particular credit for having begun this initiative and having continued to push it once he had left office, but former head of the Central Policy Unit Warren Jones and especially Central Policy Unit analyst Kimberley Mckeown, who has been the unsung hero of this initiative within Government, also should take same praise. Outside of Government, United Bermuda Party MP John Barritt, who has given more thought and pushed harder for open government and transparency than anyone else in Bermuda in the last decade, deserves particular praise for pushing this initiative.

In spite of the fact that it has taken some seven years for this Act to go from a policy idea to legislation, the hard work is only now beginning. This risk with freedom of information legislation is that it can be used as much to block the release of information as it can be used to make information accessible. And the truth is that this legislation will only be as good as the public makes it.

If no one requests information, Bermuda may as well not have the law. And it is important now for the public to press for it to be put into action as quickly as possible.

Dr. Brown stated that it may take two to three years for that to happen; that seems to be too long for a law whose development has already taken so long. Still, it does mean there is time to improve on the legislation the House of Assembly passed on Friday and that is likely to get similar treatment in the Senate.

And as Mr. Barritt said, too many departments remain outside the ambit of the law, including, remarkably, the office of the Information Commissioner, the person tasked with implementing the law. Mr. Barritt was right to say that the law should be universal and only exemptions for national security and state secrets should be exempt. So perhaps the law can be amended before it takes effect. In the meantime, this is the time to celebrate a milestone, but also to remember that it is just that and not the end of the road.