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Document
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PO-1946
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File #
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PA-000187-2
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Institution/HIC
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Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
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Summary
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NATURE OF THE APPEAL: This is an appeal of a decision by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (the Ministry) pursuant to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act ). The Ministry received a three-part request for access to information under the Ontario Drug Benefit Formulary program, and dealt with each as a separate request ("Application One", "Application Two", "Application Three"). In response to the request under Application Three, the Ministry issued an interim decision together with a fee estimate of $600.00. The requester, now the appellant, appealed the Ministry's fee estimate under Appeal PA-000187-1. Appeal PA-000187-1 was resolved and the terms of settlement were set out in the Report of the Mediator as follows: During mediation, the appellant narrowed the scope of application three of his request to records maintained by the Legal Services Branch only. The Ministry confirmed that it is not charging any fees for the search at this branch and agreed to issue a final decision to the appellant. The parties have agreed that the Ministry will have 30 days from the date of this report, to issue its final decision to the appellant. Accordingly, this resolved the appellant's appeal as it relates to application three of his request. The Ministry subsequently located four records as responsive to the narrowed request in Application Three. It issued a final decision letter advising the appellant that access to these records was denied in their entirety on the basis of the exemptions at sections 19 (solicitor-client privilege), 17 (third party information), 18 (economic and other interests of Ontario) and 21 (invasion of privacy) of the Act. The appellant appealed the Ministry's decision and a new appeal was opened, PA-000187-2. In his appeal letter, the appellant asserts that additional records should exist, outside the Legal Services Branch, and possibly in the "financial/contractual branch". The Ministry's position is that the narrowed request is clear and pertains only to records in the Legal Services Branch. Accordingly, the scope of the request is also at issue in this appeal. Mediation was not successful and a Report of the Mediator was prepared and shared with the Ministry and the appellant. I sent a Notice of Inquiry to the Ministry, initially, summarizing the facts and issues of this appeal. The Ministry returned representations, the non-confidential potions of which were shared with the appellant, together with a Notice of Inquiry. The appellant also returned submissions. RECORDS: There are four records at issue in this appeal. Records 1A/1B and 3A/3B consist of briefing notes and a retainer letter concerning private sector legal counsel. Records 2 and 4 each consist of a covering letter and a statement of account with respect to legal billings. DISCUSSION: SCOPE OF THE REQUEST The Ministry submits that it: … first received a three-part request for access to information under FIPPA. The Ministry dealt with each part, "Application One, Application Two" and "Application Three", as separate requests. In response to the third request, the Ministry issued an interim decision together with a fee estimate of $600.00. The requester appealed the decision which resulted in mediation. During mediation, the appellant narrowed the scope of "Application Three" to " records maintained by the Legal Services Branch " [emphasis added]. The Ministry confirmed that it would not charge fees for the search in this Branch and agreed to issue a final decision within 30 days of the date of the Mediator's Report. A decision letter was issued by the Ministry indicating that it had located four records responsive to the narrowed request. The appellant stated that he believes that the scope of his narrowed request for documents in the Legal Services branch includes documents which may reside in the Ministry's financial/contractual branch. The appellant was given an opportunity to clarify his request. This resulted in the request for "records maintained by the Legal Services Branch". It is the Ministry's position that the narrowed scope of the request clearly identified "records maintained by the Legal Services Branch". The appellant narrowed the scope of his request with emphasis added, clearly indicating that only records within the LSB were responsive to his request. In his representations, the appellant submits that his "request was never totally limited to legal services to get the legal contract", and that a fifth record should exist and may be located in another Ministry branch, specifically, the "financial/contractual branch". He bases this belief on information which he received in April and June 2001, in the context of a separate appeal, Appeal PA-010193. The Report of the Mediator for Appeal PA-000187-2 indicates that the appellant's request with respect to Application Three was clarified during mediation. That is, the request pertains to: 1998, 1999, 2000 records on ministry contracts/agreements with outside legal firms on matters of drug benefit programs/procedures, policies; the contract amounts and invoices for payment and payments and the terms of reference for such consultancy work maintained by the Legal Services Branch only. [emphasis in original] The issue in the appeal before me has to be placed in the context of Appeal PA-000187-1 and the resolution of that appeal which was agreed to by the parties. The terms of the settlement in the earlier appeal were clear in the Report of the Mediator in that the appellant agreed to have his request cover records maintained by the Legal Services Branch only. The Ministry and the appellant were invited to review the Report of the Mediator and to return a response "if there are any errors or omissions". There is no indication that either party contacted the Mediator, nor did the appellant raise any objections on receipt of the Ministry's final decision letter. It was only after the appellant received records in response to a separate request th
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Legislation
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Subject Index
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Signed by
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Dora Nipp
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Published
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Sep 13, 2001
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Type
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Order
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2013
Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. All Rights Reserved.
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