In Alberta, cabinet and Treasury Board confidences are a “must refuse to disclose”, so it's a mandatory refusal to disclose that information to an applicant. But there are some qualifications on that. This includes advice, recommendations, policy considerations, and that sort of thing. It does not apply to information in a record that has been in existence for 15 years or more, and information in a record that is about presenting background facts to the executive council or committees. The exception doesn't apply if the decision has been made public or has been implemented or if five years or more have passed since the decision was made or considered.
It is a mandatory exception. There are some qualifications on it. For the most part I think that does achieve the right balance.
One thing that I think is very important is that in my office we have the ability to review those records to ensure that the exception to access has been properly claimed. I believe there is a handful of orders that we've issued where we have reviewed the records and explained the purpose of that exception and why it matters—because exceptions to access are important—but where we've been able to issue binding orders to confirm, for example, the decision to withhold the records because they're cabinet confidences.