Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 4, Exemptions from the Right of Access. Updated 24 July 2025. 114 … (2) Subject to section 30, a head shall not refuse to give access pursuant to subsection (1) to a record where: (a) the record has been in existence for more than 25 years; or (b) consent to access is given by: (i) the President of the Executive Council for which, or with respect to which, the record has been prepared; or (ii) in the absence or inability to act of the President, by the next senior member of the Executive Council who is present and able to act. Subsection 16(1)(c) of FOIP is a mandatory class-based exemption. It permits refusal of access in situations where release of a record could disclose a confidence of Cabinet including records of consultations among members of Cabinet on matters that relate to the making of government decisions or the formulation of government policy, or records that reflect those consultations. Cabinet confidences are generally defined as, in the broadest sense, the political secrets of Ministers individually and collectively, the disclosure of which would make it very difficult for the government to speak in unison before Parliament and the public.414 Including means that the list of information that follows is not complete (non-exhaustive). The examples in the provision are the types of information that could be presumed to disclose a confidence of the Executive Council (Cabinet).415 The following two-part test can be applied. However, only one of the questions needs to be answered in the affirmative for the exemption to apply. There may be circumstances where both questions apply and can be answered in the affirmative: 1. Is it a record of consultations among members of Cabinet on matters that relate to the making of government decisions or the formulation of government policy? This part of the provision is more specific and is intended to capture records containing consultations. The second part of the provision is broader and is intended to capture records that may reflect the consultations but less directly. 414 Federal Access to Information and Privacy Legislation Annotated 2015 (Canada: Thomson Reuters Canada Limited, 2014) at page 1-644.4. 415 British Columbia Government Services, FOIPPA Policy and Procedures Manual at https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/services-for-government/policiesprocedures/foippa-manual/cabinet-local-public-body-confidences. Accessed June 26, 2019.
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