Canadian Privacy Decisions

The complainant alleged that Transport Canada improperly withheld contract information related to the aggregate extraction operation on land leased to the Ottawa International Airport Authority (OIAA) under exemptions related to third-party financial, commercial, scientific, or technical information, and negotiations. The contract was between the OIAA and Thomas Cavanagh Construction Limited. The Information Commissioner found that while some information met the exemption criteria, much of it did not, particularly regarding confidentiality and the necessity of withholding. The Commissioner ordered Transport Canada to disclose certain portions of the contract.

• Whether contract information between two third parties was properly withheld under ATIA s. 20(1)(b) (confidential third-party financial, commercial, scientific or technical information).
• Whether contract information was properly withheld under ATIA s. 20(1)(c) (financial impact on a third party).
• Whether contract information was properly withheld under ATIA s. 20(1)(d) (negotiations by a third party).
• Whether the information was objectively confidential and if its disclosure would foster a public benefit relationship.

The complainant alleged that Public Safety Canada improperly withheld information related to user agreements for the national public alerting system, citing personal information and third-party emergency management plans. During the investigation, the complainant withdrew the need to investigate the personal information aspect. The Commissioner found that the agreements did not meet the criteria for third-party emergency management plans because they constituted negotiated terms rather than information supplied by a third party. The Commissioner also found that the institution's invocation of the exemption for facilitating an offence was not justified.

• Whether the information was 'supplied...by a third party' for the purposes of paragraph 20(1)(b.1) of the ATIA.
• Whether the information meets the criteria for third-party emergency management plans under paragraph 20(1)(b.1) of the ATIA.
• Whether the disclosure of a DocuSign envelope identification number could reasonably be expected to facilitate the commission of an offence under subsection 16(2) of the ATIA.