Evidence of meeting #56 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was sms.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Don Bell Liberal North Vancouver, BC
It's been read into the record, more or less, at this point, but I just wanted to confirm that.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Joe Volpe Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
On that same point, since Monsieur Bélanger read the memo into the record and he made references to paragraphs 20(1)(b) and 20(1)(d) and subsection 19(1) of the Access to Information Act, asking in effect what that was, I'm sure Ms. Stanfield will tell us what the issues are in those sections that would cause the department not to reveal those items in an ATIP request.
4:10 p.m.
Legal Counsel, Department of Transport
I can tell you what the legislation says.
4:10 p.m.
Legal Counsel, Department of Transport
Section 19 of the Access to Information Act deals with personal information.
4:10 p.m.
Legal Counsel, Department of Transport
You have to read it in conjunction with the Privacy Act to understand how it all fits together when it comes to personal information, because the Privacy Act protects personal information that the government holds. So access to information is really about a third party requesting information about a person or a company. The Privacy Act is about the government's obligations to protect personal information that it collects while it does its business.
4:10 p.m.
Legal Counsel, Department of Transport
It's section 19 of the Access to Information Act that deals with personal information. Is it subsection 19(1) that they referred to?
4:10 p.m.
Legal Counsel, Department of Transport
It says, “Subject to subsection (2), the head of a government institution shall refuse to disclose any record requested under this Act that contains personal information as defined in section 3 of the Privacy Act.” And there's a long list of information in section 3 that identifies what personal information is.
Section 20 of the Access to Information Act deals with third party information. Was it paragraphs 20(1)(b) and (c)?
4:10 p.m.
Legal Counsel, Department of Transport
Subsection 20(1) says:
Subject to this section, the head of a government institution shall refuse to disclose any record requested under this Act that contains
[...]
(b) financial, commercial, scientific or technical information that is confidential information supplied to a government institution by a third party and is treated consistently in a confidential manner by the third party;
[...]
(d) information the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to interfere with contractual or other negotiations of a third party
4:15 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
I just wanted to come back to Ms. Stanfield.
So the amendment that reads “the information is required to be disclosed under an Act of Parliament” currently would refer only to the Access to Information Act.
4:15 p.m.
Legal Counsel, Department of Transport
There could be other acts of Parliament that deal with information disclosure, or provisions in other acts.
4:15 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
No, but it's with a specific requirement under an act of Parliament. So currently it would be only an access to information request. Am I not correct on that?
4:15 p.m.
Legal Counsel, Department of Transport
I can't say with certainty, because I don't know if there may be other information disclosure provisions in other acts. It's mainly access to information.
4:15 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
Yes, so I think we can say with certainty that it's limited to information disclosure requirements that are mainly contained within the Access to Information Act.
4:15 p.m.
Legal Counsel, Department of Transport
There are other pieces of legislation.
4:15 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
So what had come out on Monday was the potential that this would be covered by a whole range of acts. It's not; it's specifically related to information disclosure.
You've raised a whole range of exemptions that exist already. We've had this discussion around even a request through access to information by CUPE on the SMS audit of Air Transat. That information was not forthcoming, as we heard in testimony and received; the pages were blanked out. And we've had other information that basically has not been available. So the access to information, even through that act, is limited as to the amount of information that can be disclosed. There are limitations.
