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P-931

Document		P-931


File #		P-9300165 and P-9300166


Institution/HIC		Ministry of Finance


Summary		NATURE OF THE APPEALS: These are appeals under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act ). The requester asked the Ministry of Revenue (now the Ministry of Finance) for information relating to the assessment of approximately 300 properties in the vicinity of the Lester B. Pearson International Airport (the Airport). The first request (which resulted in Appeal Number P-9300165) involves properties which collectively constitute Terminal 2 and the attached Parking Garage. In total, there are two main properties and 115 tenant portions involved in this appeal. The second request (which produced Appeal Number P-9300166) pertains to 178 properties in the vicinity of the Airport Road and to all related tenant portions. The requester represents a tenant which occupies space at the Airport. The requester specifically sought information about the assessment of his client's property, the assessments levied on the other properties in and around the Airport and the rules which the Ministry applied to fix assessments for all of these properties. Each request had four separate components, which I shall refer to as Parts A through D. In its decision letter, the Ministry determined that it would not release any of the requested information based on the combined application of section 53(1) of the Assessment Act and section 67 of the Act . The requester appealed this decision to the Commissioner's office. In Interim Order P-691, I addressed Part B of the requests and those components of Part D where the appellant sought "impact studies for the City of Mississauga on 1980 market value assessments". I reached the conclusion that section 53(1) of the Assessment Act only applies to information furnished to or acquired by an assessor which relates to individual properties. Because the Ministry had purported to apply this confidentiality provision in a much broader fashion, I ordered the institution to provide the appellant with a new decision letter. The appellant subsequently received this letter and has not appealed the decision which he obtained. On this basis, I need not revisit those components of the requests which were addressed in my previous order. A Notice of Inquiry which dealt with the remaining issues in these appeals was provided to the appellant and the Ministry. Representations were received from both parties. In its submissions, the Ministry indicated that it also wished to rely on the following exemptions contained in the Act to withhold one or more of the record categories from disclosure: tax related information - section 17(2) third party information - section 17(1) security of a building - section 14(1)(i) information received in confidence from another government - section 15(b) prejudice to the defence of Canada - section 16 In his representations, the appellant took the position that, despite the application of section 53(1) of the Assessment Act , the Commissioner's office has the authority to order the Ministry to release the information at issue under the discretionary access provision found in section 53(3) of the Assessment Act . Each party was then afforded the opportunity to comment on the statutory provisions raised by the other. In his submissions, the appellant also indicated that he no longer wished to pursue Part A of his two requests. There, he had sought information in the custody of the Ministry's Regional Assessment Commissioner regarding his client's property. I shall return to this matter later in the order. Finally, the parties agreed that the two appeals would be restricted to Part C of the requests and to those portions of Part D of the requests not addressed in my previous order. For greater certainty, the information which remains at issue in these appeals is the following: (1) All records in the possession of the Regional Assessment Commissioner with respect to the valuation for assessment purposes of any properties which are similar real property to the Subject property within the meaning of section 60(1) of the Assessment Act , including but not limited to all costcards, valuations, notes, memoranda, calculations or other material whether or not such material forms the basis of assessments made for valuation purposes. (2) Any information about 1980 market value assessments found in the individual assessment files referred to in these requests. At the request of the Commissioner's office, the parties also agreed that the scope of the records at issue in Parts C and D of these appeals would be limited to 10 categories of documents. These record groupings, which consist of industrial tally sheets, appraisal cards, leases, airport plans and the working notes of assessors, pertain to both individual assessed properties and to the tenant portions thereof. The record groupings represent the typical sorts of records found in assessment files of this nature. Since the two appeals involve similar types of records, relate to properties in the same geographical location and have, to date, been treated in a collective fashion by the parties, I have decided to consider them together for the purposes of this order. By way of background, I would also note that the appellant has filed a separate appeal with the Assessment Review Board (ARB) where he has challenged the assessment which the Ministry applied to his client's properties. Owing to the complexity of the issues to be considered, the parties agreed to remit this matter directly to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). The hearing to address the assessment issues has yet to be convened. Under the rules adopted by the OMB, the appellant will be entitled to obtain disclosure of those Ministry records which the OMB judges relevant to the matters before that tribunal. PRELIMINARY MATTERS: THE SCOPE OF THE PRESENT APPEALS There are three preliminary matters regarding the scope of these appeals which I must consider before addressing the substantive issues. These initial matters involve (1) the status of Part A of these appeals, (2) the time frame for the appeals and (3) the properties that are subject to the appeals. WHAT IS THE STATUS OF PART A OF THE APPEALS Within Part A of the two


Legislation		FIPPA 10(1) custody or control 17(2) 67(2) 67(1)


Subject Index		alternative access assessment related Confidentiality Provision in another Act enlarging to control own process


Signed by		Irwin Glasberg


Published		May 19, 1995


Type		Order – Interim


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