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Document
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P-529
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File #
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P-910274 and P-910779
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Institution/HIC
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Ministry of Transportation
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Summary
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ORDER BACKGROUND: The Ministry of Transportation (the Ministry) received two requests under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act ) from the same individual for information relating to GO Transit service to Peterborough. The first request covered the period from August 1, 1989 to the date of the request (December 22, 1990) while the second encompassed the period from January 1 to April 30, 1991 (or the date that the request would be processed by the Ministry), whichever was later. In both cases, the Ministry granted access in full to a number of records. The Ministry refused, however, to disclose other documents, either in whole or in part, under sections 12(1), 13(1), 14(1)(a) and (b), 15(a) and (b), 17(1), 18(1)(a), (c), (d), (e), (f) and (g), 19 and 21(1) of the Act . The requester appealed the Ministry's decisions. During the course of mediation, the Ministry released additional records to the appellant, who also agreed to narrow the number of documents that he was seeking. As a result, the exemptions upon which the Ministry continues to rely involve sections 12(1), 13(1), 17(1)(a), (b) and (c), 18(1)(c) and (d) and 19 of the Act . For ease of reference, the 28 records which remain at issue are listed in Appendix A which is attached to this order. Further mediation was not successful and notice that an inquiry was being conducted to review the Ministry's decisions was sent to the appellant, the Ministry and to five parties whose interests might be affected by the disclosure of the information (the affected persons). Representations were received from the appellant, the Ministry and three affected persons. For ease of reference, I have designated each of the records at issue in the first appeal (P-910274) with the suffix "A" and the records at issue in the second appeal (P-910779) with the suffix "B". ISSUES: The issues to be determined in these appeals are: A. Whether the mandatory exemption provided by section 12(1) of the Act applies to the records. B. Whether the discretionary exemption provided by section 13(1) of the Act applies to the records. C. Whether the discretionary exemption provided by section 19 of the Act applies to the records. D. Whether the mandatory exemptions provided by sections 17(1)(a), (b) and (c) of the Act apply to the records. E. Whether the discretionary exemptions provided by sections 18(1)(c) and (d) of the Act apply to the records. SUBMISSIONS/CONCLUSIONS: ISSUE A: Whether the mandatory exemption provided by section 12(1) of the Act applies to the records. The Ministry claims that section 12(1) of the Act applies to all or parts of Records 11A, 70A, 73A, 74A, 75A, 2B, 5B, 12B and 18B. Section 12(1) of the Act reads, in part, 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, ... (b) a record containing policy options or recommendations submitted, or prepared for submission, to the Executive Council or its committees; (c) a record that does not contain policy options or recommendations referred to in clause (b) and that does contain background explanations or analyses of problems submitted, or prepared for submission, to the Executive Council or its committees for their consideration in making decisions, before those decisions are made and implemented; ... (e) a record prepared to brief a minister of the Crown in relation to matters that are before or are proposed to be brought before the Executive Council or its committees, or are the subject of consultations among ministers relating to government decisions or the formulation of government policy; ... It has been determined in a number of previous orders that the use of the word "including" in the introductory wording of section 12(1) means that the disclosure of any record (not just the types of records listed in the various subparagraphs of section 12(1)), which would reveal the substance of deliberations of an Executive Council or its committees, qualifies for exemption under section 12(1) (Orders 22, P-304 and P-376). In addition, it is possible that a record which has never been placed before an Executive Council or its committees may qualify for exemption under the introductory wording of section 12(1). This result will occur where a Ministry establishes that disclosure of the record would reveal the substance of deliberations of an Executive Council or its committees, or that its release would permit the drawing of accurate inferences with respect to the substance of deliberations of an Executive Council or its committees (Orders 203, P-226, P-293, P-331, P-361, P-376 and P-424). I will address the application of this exemption initially to Records 11A, 70A, 73A, 74A and 75A. Record 11A is a status report authored by a Ministry employee, dated January 22, 1991, concerning bus services in the Peterborough/Port Perry area. The Ministry has withheld the top half of page 11 of this record pursuant to section 12(1) of the Act . The first bullet point which is exempted on the page quotes from a Cabinet minute. In my view, the disclosure of this sentence would reveal the substance of deliberations of an Executive Council and, accordingly, the bullet point qualifies for exemption under section 12(1) of the Act . The heading and the second and third bullet points which follow, however, do not reveal the substance of deliberations of the Executive Council or its committees, nor do they permit the drawing of accurate inferences about such deliberations. In my view, section 12(1) does not apply to this information and it should, therefore, be released to the appellant. Record 70A consists of notes dated January 8, 1991 concerning a meeting held between the Minister of Transportation (the Minister) and a named company. Page 2 of this record contains brief references to a Cabinet submission and to the consideration of these materials by Cabinet. After a
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Legislation
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FIPPA
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12(1)
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12(1)(b)
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12(1)(c)
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12(1)(e)
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18(1)(d)
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Section 19
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13(1)
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17(1)
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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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Sep 03, 1993
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Type
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Order
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