I would invite committee members to turn to section 36 of the Investment Canada Act, on page 38. Essentially, it refers to what we're talking about today--confidential information--but it's actually privileged information. The act contains, under subsection 36(1), the main confidentiality provision, which essentially says:
...all information obtained with respect to a Canadian, a non-Canadian, a business or an entity...by the Minister or an officer or employee of Her Majesty in the course of the administration...of this Act is privileged and no one shall knowingly communicate or allow to be communicated any such information or allow anyone to inspect or to have access to any such information.
This is the article that forms the basis of the strict confidentiality provisions under the act. That being said, there are some exceptions, and I would turn to a few of the provisions.
Subsection 36(3) of the act provides that information that is privileged under subsection 36(1) may, “on such terms and conditions and under such circumstances as the Minister deems appropriate”, be released if the investor has provided us in writing the authority to release it. Where an investor essentially makes the request for us to release information, that can be released.
The second exception under subsection 36(3) is where, for purposes related to the administration of the act, the minister wishes to consult and to disclose information for purposes of consultation “to a minister of the Crown in right of Canada or a province or to an officer or employee of Her Majesty in right of Canada or a province”. This provision allows for it. We may consult ministers and officials at the federal and provincial levels. The minister does rely on those provisions to share information that is privileged, as I said, with government officials.
Subsection 36(4) of the act also provides the minister with the discretion to disclose specific information under certain conditions. Paragraph 36(4)(b) actually provides the minister with the authority to disclose information contained in undertakings--not the undertakings themselves, but information contained in undertakings.
Also, subparagraph 36(4)(e)(ii) provides the authority to disclose information contained in notices. When the minister issues notices under the act, he may share that information. In deciding to do so, in making undertakings public, the minister needs to exercise his discretion to disclose any privileged information only where he is satisfied that, one, it is required for the administration of the act, and two, that confidential commercial information is not being disclosed in that process, and that disclosing the information will not prejudice the investor.
Those are the conditions attached to those exceptions.