Canadian Privacy Decisions

The complainant alleged that Parks Canada improperly withheld portions of a draft feasibility study. Parks Canada initially cited exemptions related to personal information, financial impact on third parties, and negotiations by a third party. During the investigation, Parks Canada shifted its reliance to the exemption for confidential third-party financial, commercial, scientific, or technical information. The Information Commissioner found that neither Parks Canada nor the third party (Liricon Capital Ltd.) demonstrated that the withheld information met the requirements of the exemption. Therefore, the Commissioner ordered Parks Canada to disclose specific portions of the study.

• Whether information in a draft feasibility study was properly withheld under exemptions related to personal information, financial impact, negotiations, or confidential third-party information.
• Whether the institution and third party met the burden of proof to justify withholding information under paragraph 20(1)(b) of the Access to Information Act.
• Whether certain withheld information was already publicly available or disclosed elsewhere in the record, thus failing the confidentiality requirement of paragraph 20(1)(b).