Thank you, Commissioner Ring.
First of all, I'll just begin by saying that—as the commissioner referenced—government, with this latest review, explicitly stated they wanted to have the best access to information legislation in Canada when they were finished. The Centre for Law and Democracy, once it was enacted, called our new legislation “a strong...law by international standards” and “head and shoulders above other Canadian jurisdictions”. I think the Newfoundland and Labrador law, ATIPPA, 2015, is well worth examining in close detail by any jurisdiction in Canada that's looking at reviewing its access to information provisions.
As the commissioner mentioned, there were 90 recommendations accepted by government in relation to this new act. Obviously I'm not going to go into all 90 of them this morning, but I want to hit some of the high points I think might be helpful to you.
One of the things that changed in the new act was that the commissioner's oversight of certain provisions of the act was enhanced or restored. In the previous version of the act, the commissioner was not able to review certain types of cabinet records and was not able to review claims of solicitor-client privilege. Under the new act this was restored to the commissioner.
Furthermore the scope of coverage of the act was also broadened. In fact, one of the things we've had all along in our jurisdiction is that the legislature has been covered by the act for a number of years now, but in the new act even entities at the municipal level were added.
In terms of the oversight role, we have a unique model in Newfoundland and Labrador. Primarily, across Canada, you have either order-making power or the ombudsman type of model that we had in the past where the commissioner only makes recommendations. Our hybrid model now involves the commissioner continuing to operate as if it's an ombudsman model in terms of how it's set up. When the commissioner issues a report making a recommendation, and if a public body does not wish to follow the recommendation, they have to go to court to ask a judge for permission to not follow the recommendation. They would have to argue in court that our recommendation is not valid. If they fail to go to court to do that, the commissioner has the ability to file the recommendation as an order of the court. That model works for us. We've had it for less than a year, and so far so good. We have not yet had a situation, since the new act came into force, where a public body has refused to follow our recommendations. That's been helpful.
I know that timelines is one of the issues that has plagued the federal level. Public bodies have 20 business days to respond to access to information requests in our jurisdiction. If they feel they cannot meet that, they don't have the ability to extend the timeline on their own beyond 20 business days. If public bodies feel they need additional time, they have to request an extension from the commissioner's office. We've been fielding extension requests from public bodies since the act came in last June. It has not been overly onerous for us to handle these. We've been looking for strong arguments from public bodies and evidence as to why they need time extensions, and that process has worked well.
There is no fee to make an access to information, no five-dollar fee, and the fees are reduced overall. You don't get charged fees until either 10 hours of search time or 15 hours of search time, depending on the category of public body you are.
In terms of the time frame for the review process at the commissioner's office, our office has to complete our reviews within 65 business days. Now this only works if your oversight office has either order-making power or you have the hybrid model that we have. I don't think it's feasible if you have ombudsman power to limit the commissioner's time frame in that regard, because informal resolution becomes more important if you don't have some sort of order power, or some basis to ensure the public bodies will follow your recommendations.
We also have a public interest override provision, which applies to most of our discretionary exceptions. The clerk of the executive council can exercise a type of public interest override in relation to cabinet records as well.
With regard to the third-party business interest exception, we previously had the three-part test, which is the best standard in Canada up to now. Some jurisdictions in Canada have the three-part test. Under the previous legislation the commissioner referenced, which was overturned, it had reverted to a one-part test. We are now back to the three-part test, which is where we need to be.
The committee that reviewed our legislation recommended that government bring in a duty to document, which I know Commissioner Legault has spoken about extensively.
When the report was presented, the government of the day agreed with that recommendation. The current government, as far as I know, is working to make that happen. That is going to require a legislative amendment to Newfoundland and Labrador's Management of Information Act. The commissioner, according to the recommendations at least, will have oversight of the duty to document and be able to audit how the duty to document is being implemented.
In the advice and recommendations section of our legislation, we have a long list of types of records that are not covered by that exception. There is the advice and recommendations exception, but there are also a number of examples of types of records, such as factual material, which cannot be withheld under the advice and recommendation provision. I think that is a good way to go and I would recommend for you to have a look at it.
Our cabinet confidences exception was revised. We don't have a full substance of deliberations test. Substance of deliberations is applied to cabinet confidences material that might be found in records that are not cabinet records per se, but it's more of a categorical exception. That one probably could be better. I'm sure Commissioner Legault has put forward arguments as to what she believes it should be. I would recommend you have a look at those closely.
Some other acts, of course, are set out as taking precedence over access to information provisions in each jurisdiction in Canada. We have those in our jurisdiction as well. However, the committee that looked at our act ensured that they were kept to a minimum. Further, they recommended that these provisions be looked at in greater detail in the next review. Some of them were removed from the list, so that we have fewer now than we had before.
It's important, I think, to have a provision that requires that the act be reviewed every five years. Basically, the federal act has been perennially criticized from all quarters, because there has been no requirement to review the federal act on a regular basis. Probably one of the most important recommendations that anyone could make is to ensure that the act be reviewed regularly, as is the case in our jurisdiction and in some others as well.
Some other powers of the commissioner that we now have include the ability to audit compliance with the act. We have the ability to commission research. We have the mandate to educate the public about the act, as well as to educate public bodies about how to comply with the act. We have the ability to initiate own-motion investigations.
It is also mandatory for the government to consult with the commissioner's office on any proposed bill that could have implications for access or privacy. That's been excellent. Previous to that, government consulted with us on an ad hoc basis, but this makes it a requirement and ensures that it's consistent. I like to think, and certainly the reaction we've gotten to our input on legislation, is that the government has been happy to get our suggestions and has acted on them on several occasions.
The offence provision in our legislation has been updated so that it is practical to enforce. Our office has actually conducted two investigations under our Personal Health Information Act, and offence provisions and successful prosecutions ensued, so we think that's important.
Broadly speaking, in Newfoundland and Labrador we are satisfied that the act grants appropriate rights to citizens and that the commissioner has the necessary tools to achieve effective oversight. I would think that's where you'd want to go. You want to have an act that ensures that citizens have appropriate rights, and you want to ensure that the commissioner has all the powers and mandate to ensure that those rights are protected and upheld.
Thank you very much for the opportunity, and we're glad to answer any questions you may have.