2014-2015 Canada Post Corporation
Overall performanceFootnote 1
While Canada Post Corporation (CPC) received a similar number requests in 2014-2015, its overall performance showed a decrease compared to the previous reporting period.
In 2014-2015, the total number of requests received by CPC represented 0.2% percent of the total requests received government-wide under the Access to Information Act (the Act). 27.8% of those requests to the CPC resulted in a complaint to the Office of the Information Commissioner. This gives CPC the second highest number of complaints per request received. This report provides comparative statistics for the last three periods (2012-2015).
Workload
CPC received 108 requests under the Act, compared to 109 the previous period. Requests received by CPC were from members of the public (37.0%), followed by the media (26.9%), organizations (18.5%), and the business sector (17.6%).
CPC completed 95 requests in 2014-2015. The completion rateNote de bas de page 2 was 76.6%, which is lower than the government-wide rate for 2014-2015 of 85.1%. In 2013-2014, the completion rate for CPC was 87.3%. CPC also received 14 informal requestsNote de bas de page 3 and 8 of them were released in 30 days or less. The number of consultations received by CPC from other federal government institutions decreased from 24 to 16, representing a decrease of 33.3% compared to 2013-2014.
CPC processed 7,813 pages this reporting period. Table 1 shows that the average number of pages processed per completed request decreased significantly, from 217 in 2013-2014 to 96 in 2014-2015. As in the previous period, all information released by CPC was in paper format.
Table 1. Workload
| Measures | 2012-2013 | 2013-2014 | 2014-2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Requests received | 105 | 109 | 108 |
| Annual change (%) | - | 3.8% | -0.9% |
| Completed requests | 135 | 110 | 95 |
| Annual change (%) | - | -18.5% | -13.6% |
| Number of consultations received (from other government institutions) | 44 | 24 | 16 |
| Annual change (%) | - | -45.5% | -33.3% |
| Average number of pages processed per request completed | 161 | 217 | 96 |
| % of requests for which more than 1,000 pages were processed | 5.6% | 7.3% | 1.2% |
Request completion time
Timeliness
Figure 1 reveals that 53.7% of requests were completed within 30 days or less, which is 13.6% lower compared to 2013-2014. The requests completed between 61 and 120 days increased from 11.8% in 2013-2014 to 16.8% in 2014-2015. Also, the number of requests that required between 121 and 180 days completion time increased from 2.7% in 2013-2014 to 5.3% this reporting period. No requests were completed beyond 365 days.
Figure 1: Request Completion Time
Text version
Figure 1 is a bar chart with vertical bars, representing the completion time by CPC during each reporting period between 2012-2013 and 2014-2015. The results are as follows:
| Completion time | 2012-2013 | 2013-2014 | 2014-2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days or less | 39.26% | 67.27% | 53.68% |
| 31-60 days | 17.04% | 18.18% | 22.11% |
| 61-120 days | 15.56% | 11.82% | 16.84% |
| 121-180 days | 2.96% | 2.73% | 5.26% |
| 181-365 days | 1.48% | 0.00% | 2.11% |
| More than 365 days | 23.7% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
Extensions
CPC took a total of 30 extensions in 2014-2015 compared to 18 in 2013-2014. The most common reasons for taking an extension was for interference with operations (46.6%), consultations (30.0%) and third-party notice (23.3%).
Figure 2 shows that 30.0% of the extensions taken in 2014-2015 were for 30 days or less. The proportion of extensions taken between 31 and 60 days in 2014-2015 was 40.0% which is a decrease from 55.6% in 2013-2014. There was a 6.7% increase in the proportion of extensions for 61 and 120 days compared to the last period, and no extensions were taken for more than 181 days.
Figure 2: Length of Extensions
Text version
Figure 2 is a bar chart with vertical bars, representing the length of extensions taken by CPC during each reporting period between 2012-2013 and 2014-2015. The results are as follows:
| Length of extensions | 2012-2013 | 2013-2014 | 2014-2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days or less | 38.89% | 16.67% | 30.00% |
| 31-60 days | 35.19% | 55.56% | 40.00% |
| 61-120 days | 16.67% | 16.67% | 23.33% |
| 121-180 days | 5.56% | 11.11% | 6.67% |
| 181-365 days | 3.70% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| More than 365 days | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
Deemed refusals
In 2014-2015, three requests were closed past the statutory deadline,Note de bas de page 4 which is 3.2% of the completed requests. This rate represents an “A” grade.Note de bas de page 5 CPC’s justification for not meeting the statutory deadline in these cases was workload (100%). Two requests were late by 15 days or less, and 1 request was late by 181 to 365 days.
Disclosure
Percentage of requests for which information was disclosed
In 2014-2015, 11.6% of all completed requests were entirely disclosed, which is 9.3% lower than the previous period (see Figure 3). Requests that were partly disclosed represented 41.1% of all completed requests, which is a slight decrease from the previous year.
Figure 3: Level of Disclosure
Text version
Figure 3 is a bar-chart with vertical bars, representing the entirely disclosed and disclosed in part requests as proportion of total requests completed by CPC during each reporting period between 2012-2013 and 2014-2015. The results are as follows:
| Disclosure | 2012-2013 | 2013-2014 | 2014-2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| All disclosed | 18.52% | 20.91% | 11.58% |
| Disclosed in part | 46.67% | 43.64% | 41.05% |
Exemptions
On average, the number of exemptions used per completed request decreased from 1.49 in 2013-2014 to 1.42 in 2014-2015 (see Table 2). The most used exemptions for this reporting period were section 18 (Economic Interests of Canada) (37.0%), section 19 (Personal Information) (21.5%) and section 21 (Operations of Government) (17.8%).
Table 2: Exemptions
| Exemptions | 2012-2013 | 2013-2014 | 2014-2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total number of exemptions | 273 | 164 | 135 |
| Total number of completed requests | 135 | 110 | 95 |
| Average number of exemptions per completed request | 2.02 | 1.49 | 1.42 |
Complaints at the OIC
In 2014-2015, the OIC received 30 complaintsNote de bas de page 6 against CPC of which 24 were refusals and 6 were administrative. 6 complaints were well-founded and resolved, 1 complaint was not well-founded, 5 complaints were discontinued and 18 were pending resolution. In the previous period, there were ten complaints, all of which were refusals.