Information Commissioner, 2001 FCA 253

• Judge: Strayer, Décary and Evans, JJ.A.
• Court: Federal Court of Appeal (Canada)
• Case Date: May 30, 2001
• Jurisdiction: Canada (Federal)
• Citations: 2001 FCA 253;(2001), 274 N.R. 341 (FCA)

Information Commr. v. Can. (2001), 274 N.R. 341 (FCA)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2001] N.R. TBEd. SE.012

The Minister of Industry Canada (appellant) v. The Information Commissioner of Canada and Patrick McIntyre (respondents)

(A-43-00; 2001 FCA 253)

Indexed As: Information Commissioner (Can.) v. Canada (Minister of Industry)

Federal Court of Appeal

Strayer, Décary and Evans, JJ.A.

August 29, 2001.

Summary:

McIntyre requested information from the Ministry of Industry (Can.), under the Access to Information Act. The Minister withheld a significant number of documents on the basis of various exemptions to dis­closure set out in the Act. McIntyre com­plained to the Information Commissioner. After an investigation and negotiation pro­cess, the Commissioner advised that he did not agree with the Minister's position on the disclosure of particular information, namely, the percentage weightings assigned to evalu­ation criteria used to assess certain proposals received by the Minister (i.e., the "weight­ings"). The Commissioner, with McIntyre's consent, applied under s. 42 of the Act for a review of the Minister's decision.

The Federal Court of Canada, Trial Divi­sion, in a decision reported 184 F.T.R. 210, ordered that the "weightings" be disclosed. The Minister appealed.

The Federal Court of Appeal allowed the appeal.

Crown - Topic 7208

Examination of public documents - Free­dom of information - Bars - Advice by public servants - The Minister of Industry (Can.) refused to disclose information, name­ly, the percentage weightings assigned to evaluation criteria used to assess certain proposals received by the Minister (i.e., the "weightings") - The Minister argued that the requested infor­mation contained advice or recommenda­tions developed by or for a minister of the Crown and was therefore exempt from disclosure (Access to Infor­mation Act, s. 21(1)(a)) - A motions judge ordered that the "weightings" be disclosed - While the weightings originated as "advice" or "rec­ommendations" to the Minister, they lost that character when the Minister accepted that advice in awarding a radiocommunication licence - When he did so the weightings became "decisions" -The Federal Court of Appeal disagreed with this conclusion, holding that the document containing the weightings was exempt from disclosure under s. 21(1)(a) - See paragraphs 1 to 23.

Cases Noticed:

Director of Investigation and Research, Competition Act v. Southam Inc., [1997] 1 S.C.R. 748; 209 N.R. 20, refd to. [para. 21].

Statutes Noticed:

Access to Information Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. A-1, sect. 21(1)(a) [para. 2].

Counsel:

Christopher Rupar, for the appellant;

Michael Phelan and Daniel Brunet, for the respondent, Information Commissioner of Canada.

Solicitors of Record:

Morris Rosenberg, Deputy Attorney Gen­eral of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, for the appellant;

Office of the Information Commissioner, Ottawa, Ontario, for the respondent, Information Commissioner of Canada.

This appeal was heard on May 30, 2001, in Ottawa, Ontario, before Strayer, Décary and Evans, JJ.A., of the Federal Court of Appeal. The following decision was delivered for the court by Evans, J.A., on August 29, 2001.