The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario recently asked the province’s Attorney General (of the Liberal Party) to give them some information about how much it has cost Ontario taxpayers to ban a non-existent dog.
Below is the response, printed with the permission of the PC party.
Do you really want to vote for Dalton McGuinty’s and Michael Bryant’s Liberal Party when they clearly use privacy protection laws to deliberately prevent taxpayers from identifying an incredible waste of money and they cannot (or will not) track how much time their own lawyers have spent on this issue?
Ministry of the Attorney General
Freedom of information and Protection of Privacy
720 Bay Street
5th Floor
Toronto ON M5G 2K1
Telephone: (416) 326-4300
Facsimile: (416) 326-4307
March 23, 2007
Private & Confidential
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Policy Advisor
PC Research and Services
Rm. 200 North Wing
Legislative Building
Queen’s Park
Toronto, ON M7A 1A8
Re: Our File Number MAG-A-2007-00195 / hk
This is in response to your request for access to information under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act) for the legal costs associated with all aspects of defending the constitutional challenge against Bill 132, Dog Owners’ Liability Act.
The respondent was represented in the Cochrane v. Ontario application by counsel of the Ministry of the Attorney General. No accurate cost can be assigned to the work of counsel and support staff at the Ministry because they are all salaried employees.
Records containing information relating to legal expenditures have been identified. Please be advised that access to the records at issue in this request is denied under s. 19 of the Act, which protects material subject to solicitor-client privilege and records prepared by or for Crown counsel for use in giving legal advice or in contemplation of or for use in litigation.
In addition, for some records, access is denied under s. 21 of the Act, as disclosure would constitute an unjustified invasion of personal privacy, and under s. 18(1)(c)-(e) of the Act, as the records contain information where the disclosure could reasonably be expected to prejudice the economic interests of an institution, information where the disclosure could reasonably be expected to be injurious to the financial interests of the Government of Ontario, and positions, plans, procedures, criteria or instructions to be applied to any negotiations carried on or to be carried on by or on behalf of an institution or the Government of Ontario.
A copy of the relevant sections of the Act is enclosed for your reference.
The person responsible for making this decision is Stephen Patterson, Acting Assistant Deputy Attorney General, Legal Services Division.
You may, within thirty days from the date of receipt of this letter, appeal the Ministry’s decision, to the Information and Privacy Commissioner, 2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 1A8, telephone (416) 326-3333 or 1-800-387-0073. An Appeal fee of $25.00 is required by cheque or money order, made payable to the Minister of Finance.
In the event of an appeal, please provide the Information and Privacy Commissioner with a copy of this decision letter and the original request for information you sent to this office.
Yours truly,
Ruth Maillard
Coordinator
Encl.