Guide to FOIP-Chapter 4

Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 4, Exemptions from the Right of Access. Updated 8 April 2024. 191 [57] …The Legislature, by enacting the Act, has prescribed the rules of the game. Those wishing to do business with a government institution must play by those rules. Negative reactions to the Act, and the possibility of information being disclosed pursuant to it, cannot be what the Legislature had in mind when it referred to “prejudice the economic interest of the Government of Saskatchewan or a government institution”. If that were the case, s. 18(1)(f) would merely operate at the whim of third parties doing business with the Government and government institutions.690 A government institution cannot rely on subsection 18(1)(f) of FOIP for a record that fits within the enumerated exclusions listed at subsection 18(2) of FOIP. Before applying subsection 18(1) of FOIP, government institutions should ensure that subsection 18(2) of FOIP does not apply to any of the records. Subsection 18(1)(g) Economic and other interests 18(1) A head may refuse to give access to a record that could reasonably be expected to disclose: … (g) information, the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to be injurious to the ability of the Government of Saskatchewan to manage the economy of Saskatchewan; (2) A head shall not refuse, pursuant to subsection (1), to give access to a record that contains the results of product or environmental testing carried out by or for a government institution, unless the testing was conducted: (a) as a service to a person, a group of persons or an organization other than a government institution, and for a fee; or (b) as preliminary or experimental tests for the purpose of: (i) developing methods of testing; or (ii) testing products for possible purchase. Subsection 18(1)(g) of FOIP is a discretionary, harm-based exemption. It permits refusal of access in situations where release of a record could reasonably be expected to be injurious to the ability of the Government of Saskatchewan to manage the economy of Saskatchewan. 690 Leo v Global Transportation Hub Authority, 2020 SKCA 91 (CanLII) at [55] to [57].

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