OTTAWA - Canada's information watchdog is joining a seven-year battle to lift the shroud of secrecy over a decades-old intelligence dossier on socialist trailblazer Tommy Douglas.
Information commissioner Suzanne Legault is opposing the federal government's bid to overturn a court order to reconsider its refusal to publicly release much of the Douglas dossier.
Her decision to wade into the fray is something of an about-face for Legault's office.
Initially, her office maintained the government had "properly withheld" information on Douglas from The Canadian Press, which requested the file in 2005 under the Access to Information Act.
The Canadian Press successfully obtained a court order last August for fuller disclosure of the file, but the Harper government is now appealing that ruling.
The appeal is set to be heard on Oct. 3.
