Decisions

The complainant alleged that Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) improperly withheld information under subsection 19(1) (personal information), paragraph 20(1)(b) (confidential third-party financial, commercial, scientific, or technical information), and paragraph 20(1)(c) (financial impact on a third party) of the Access to Information Act to an access request for records relating to the application form for the issuance of an authorization under the Fisheries Act (Non-Emergency Situations) that was submitted by Ridley Terminals Inc. for its berth expansion project. The allegation falls within paragraph 30(1)(c) of the Act. DFO could not show that it met all the requirements of these exemptions; in particular it did not show that all the information meets the requirements for paragraph 20(1)(b) or paragraph 20(1)(c). The Information Commissioner ordered that DFO disclose all the withheld information, with the exception of the information that meets the requirements of subsection 19(1). DFO gave notice to the Commissioner that it would follow the order. The complaint is well founded.

An institution submitted an application seeking the Information Commissioner’s approval to decline to act on a 42-page access request, under subsection 6.1(1) of the Access to Information Act. In the institution’s opinion, the access request is vexatious, made in bad faith and an abuse of the right of access.

The Commissioner finds that the institution established that the access request is an abuse of the right of access. Moreover, the circumstances warrant that she provides her approval to the institution to decline to act on it.

The application is granted.

The complainant alleged that Transport Canada had improperly withheld information under paragraph 20(1)(b) (confidential third‐party financial, commercial, scientific or technical information), paragraph 20(1)(c) (financial impact on a third party) and paragraph 20(1)(d) (negotiations by a third party) of the Access to Information Act in response to an access request. The request was for contracts related to the aggregate extraction operation occurring as part of the Albion Road Project (the Project) on land leased to the Ottawa International Airport Authority (OIAA), from January 2019 to May 17, 2023. The allegation falls under paragraph 30(1)(a) of the Act.

The contract that is the subject of the complaint was between two third parties, the OIAA and Thomas Cavanagh Construction Limited. Even though contracts between third parties generally have heightened expectation of confidentiality, neither Transport Canada nor any of the third parties established that all the requirements of the exemptions were met for specific information.

The Information Commissioner ordered that Transport Canada disclose certain content of the contract. Transport Canada gave notice to the Commissioner that it would comply with the order. The complaint is well founded.

The complainant alleged that Public Safety Canada (Public Safety) had improperly withheld information under subsection 19(1) (personal information) and paragraph 20(1)(b.1) (third party emergency management plans) of the Access to Information Act. This was in response to an access request for user agreements to issue or accept emergency alerts through the national public alerting system since 2009. The allegation falls under paragraph 30(1)(a) of the Act. During the investigation, the complainant decided it was no longer necessary for the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) to investigate the application of subsection 19(1) or the information withheld on pages 1-12. Neither Public Safety nor the third party was able to demonstrate that the information met the requirements of the exemptions as the records consist of negotiated agreements and therefore are not considered to have been supplied to a government institution by the third party. The Information Commissioner ordered Public Safety to disclose the records at issue in their entirety, other than the information withheld under subsection 19(1). Public Safety gave notice to the Commissioner that it would implement the order. The complaint is well founded.