The complainant alleged that Health Canada had improperly withheld information under paragraph 20(1)(b) (confidential third-party financial, commercial, scientific or technical information), 20(1)(c) (financial impact on a third party) and 21(1)(b) (accounts of consultations or deliberations) of the Access to Information Act in response to an access request for records related to Tetra Tech, including peer reviewer comments. This allegation falls under paragraph 30(1)(a) of the Act. Health Canada could not show that it met all the requirements of these exemptions - in particular, that the information was not publicly available, that it was objectively confidential, or that all of the information was provided by the third party, or that there was a real risk of competitive harm to the third party by the release of the information.  Health Canada did reasonably exercise its discretion to decide not to disclose information withheld under paragraph 21(1)(b). The Information Commissioner ordered that Health Canada disclose information withheld under paragraph 20(1)(b).

Health Canada gave notice to the Commissioner that it would implement the order.

The complaint is well founded.