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Document
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P-483
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File #
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P-9200540
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Institution/HIC
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Ministry of Finance
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Summary
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ORDER BACKGROUND: The Ministry of Treasury and Economics (now the Ministry of Finance) (the Ministry) received a request for access under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act ) for: any and all records, wherever situate, respecting the extension of the environmental levy to non-refillable beverage alcohol containers announced in the April 30, 1992 provincial budget to be implemented, inter alia , by amendments to Ontario Regulation 548/90 and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, particulars of any consultations which have taken place with other provincial and federal government departments respecting the extension of the levy. The Ministry located a number of records responsive to the request. The Ministry also transferred portions of the request to other provincial institutions which had a greater interest in the records pursuant to section 25(2) of the Act . The Ministry also notified three affected persons pursuant to section 28(1) of the Act with respect to the records which were in its custody. In its initial decision letter, the Ministry granted access to a number of records in their entirety. The Ministry, however, denied access to certain other records, either in full or in part, on the basis of the exemptions contained in sections 12(1), 17(1) and 19 of the Act . The requester appealed the denial of access and also maintained that additional records responsive to the request must exist. During the course of mediation, all of the records for which the ministry had claimed the section 17(1) exemption, were disclosed to the appellant. Further mediation was not successful and notice that an inquiry was being conducted to review the Ministry's decision was sent to the Ministry and to the appellant. Representations were received from the Ministry only. ISSUES: The issues arising in this appeal are: A. Whether the Ministry's search for responsive records was reasonable in the circumstances. B. Whether the mandatory exemption provided by section 12(1) of the Act applies to Records 44, 45, 46 and to the information contained in Records 1b and 5 which the Ministry has withheld. C. Whether the discretionary exemption provided by section 19 of the Act applies to Record 47. SUBMISSIONS/CONCLUSIONS: ISSUE A: Whether the Ministry's search for responsive records was reasonable in the circumstances. Along with its representations, the Ministry provided an affidavit sworn by a staff member who conducted the search for records responsive to the appellant's request. This individual was employed as an Economist in the Commodity Taxes Section of the Taxation Policy Branch. In this affidavit, the employee sets out the steps which the Ministry took to locate records which would be responsive to the request. The Ministry first determined that the records in question would be housed within its Taxation Policy Branch. Ministry staff then searched the Branch's central filing system for the years 1989 through 1992. The ambit of the search was then extended to the personal and computer files of Branch staff who had been involved with the environmental levy. The Ministry official then confirmed that all of the documents located through this search had been identified in the Ministry's initial decision letter. I have carefully reviewed the Ministry's representations and the affidavit evidence provided to me. I am satisfied that the Ministry has taken all reasonable steps to locate records responsive to the appellant's request. I, therefore, find that the Ministry's search was reasonable in the circumstances of this appeal. ISSUE B: Whether the mandatory exemption provided by section 12(1) of the Act applies to Records 44, 45, 46 and to the information contained in Records 1b and 5 which the Ministry has withheld. The Ministry has relied on the introductory wording of section 12(1) of the Act to withhold all or parts of the five records referred to above. In addition, the Ministry has claimed that section 12(1)(b) applies to Record 44 and that section 12(1)(a) exempts Record 46 from disclosure. These provisions read as follows: A head shall refuse to disclose a record where the disclosure would reveal the substance of deliberations of an Executive Council or its committees, including, (a) an agenda, minute or other record of the deliberations or decisions of the Executive Council or its committees, (b) a record containing policy options or recommendations submitted, or prepared for submission, to the Executive Council or its committees; In this appeal, Records 1b, 5 and 45 were not submitted to Cabinet or its committees. In these circumstances, in order for a record to qualify for exemption under section 12(1), the document must "reveal the substance of deliberations of an Executive Council or its committees". It has been held in a number of previous orders that disclosure of a record would reveal the substance of deliberations if the disclosure of information contained in the record would permit the drawing of accurate inferences with respect to the actual deliberations of an Executive Council (Orders 203, P-226, P-293, P-331 and P-361). I propose to deal with the application of section 12(1) to each of the records at issue. Record 1b Record 1b is a briefing note dated April 21, 1992 drafted by an Economist with the Commodity Taxes Section of the Ministry's Taxation Policy Branch. Access has been granted to all of the record except for bullet points 4 and 5 on page 2. These bullet points refer to a proposal discussed at a Cabinet meeting and to matters contained in a Cabinet Submission. In its representations, the Ministry claims that the disclosure of these bullet points would permit the drawing of accurate inferences about the substance of deliberations of the Executive Council. Having examined the information that was withheld in conjunction with the other records at issue in this appeal, I accept the Ministry's position. I find, therefore, that the information in question is properly exempt under section 12(1) of the Act . Record 5 Record 5 is a briefing note dated May 13, 1992 concerning changes to the taxation scheme for certain alcoholic beverages and beverage containers. The Ministry has withheld one s
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Legislation
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FIPPA
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12(1)(a)
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12(1)(b)
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29(1)(a)(ii)
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Section 19
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Subject Index
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Signed by
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Irwin Glasberg
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Published
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Jun 24, 1993
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Type
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Order
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Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. All Rights Reserved.
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