Vol. 152, No. 4 — February 21, 2018
Registration
SI/2018-21 February 21, 2018
ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT
P.C. 2018-133 February 12, 2018
Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Justice, pursuant to subsection 3.2(2) (see footnote a) of the Access to Information Act (see footnote b), makes the annexed Order Amending the Access to Information Act Heads of Government Institutions Designation Order.
Order Amending the Access to Information Act Heads of Government Institutions Designation Order
Amendment
1 The schedule to the Access to Information Act Heads of Government Institutions Designation Order (see footnote 1) is amended by adding the following in numerical order:
| Item |
Column I |
Column II |
|---|---|---|
71.3 |
Office of the Administrator of the |
Administrator Administrateur |
Coming into Force
2 This Order comes into force on the day on which the Order Amending Schedule I to the Access to Information Act (Office of the Administrator of the Fund for Railway Accidents Involving Designated Goods) comes into force, but if it is made after that day, it comes into force on the day on which it is made.
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Order.)
Proposal
The Order Amending the Access to Information Act Heads of Government Institutions Designation Order and the Order Amending the Privacy Act Heads of Government Institutions Designation Order are made under subsection 3.2(2) of the Access to Information Act (ATIA) and subsection 3.1(2) of the Privacy Act (PA), respectively. They amend the Access to Information Act Heads of Government Institutions Designation Order and the Privacy Act Heads of Government Institutions Designation Order to designate the Administrator of the Fund for Railway Accidents Involving Designated Goods as the head of the Office of the Administrator of the Fund for Railway Accidents Involving Designated Goods (Office) for the purposes of the ATIA and the PA.
Objectives
The Order Amending the Access to Information Act Heads of Government Institutions Designation Order and the Order Amending the Privacy Act Heads of Government Institutions Designation Order are part of a package of four Orders-in-Council that collectively make the Office subject to the ATIA and the PA and designate the Administrator of the Fund for Railway Accidents Involving Designated Goods as the head of the Office for the purposes of each Act.
Making the Office subject to the ATIA, PA and also, as a result, the Library and Archives of Canada Act (LACA), would
- ensure that the public has a right of access to information in records under the Office’s control;
- protect the personal information held by the Office and provide every individual present in Canada with a right of access to their personal information that is held by the Office; and
- ensure that the Office manages, archives and disposes of documents under the ATIA, PA and LACA.
Background
The Safe and Accountable Rail Act (SARA) includes amendments to the Canada Transportation Act (CTA) to establish a strengthened liability and compensation regime for federally regulated railways. The regime includes minimum insurance requirements for federally regulated railways and a supplementary, shipper-financed compensation fund — the Fund for Railway Accidents Involving Designated Goods (Rail Fund). SARA received royal assent on June 18, 2015, and came into force on June 18, 2016.
The Rail Fund — a specified purpose account within the Consolidated Revenue Fund (subsection 153.4(1) of the CTA) — is financed through a per-tonne levy on the movement of crude oil or other designated goods by rail. This levy is set at $1.69 for the year ending March 31, 2018, and will be indexed to inflation. Federally regulated railway companies are responsible for collecting the levy from shippers and remitting it to the Rail Fund.
SARA provides that the Administrator of the Rail Fund is responsible for establishing and paying out claims made against the Rail Fund, ensuring that records relating to the Rail Fund and its administration are adequately maintained, and submitting an annual report to Parliament.
The design of the Rail Fund is based on that of the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund (SOPF), and the SOPF Administrator and the Administrator of the Rail Fund were cross-appointed (i.e. the two positions are held by the same individual) for administrative efficiency.
The Office of the Administrator of the SOPF has been a government institution under the ATIA, PA and LACA since 2006. Given the characteristics and operations of the Office and the information that it will hold, it is important that these Acts apply to the Office in order to ensure the transparent handling and appropriate protection of that information. The ATIA, PA and LACA do not automatically apply to the Office. The ATIA and PA apply to government institutions and each Act’s definition of “government institution” includes the institutions listed in Schedule I to the ATIA and the schedule to the PA, as the case may be. Therefore, the Office would have to be added to those schedules in order to make it subject to the ATIA and the PA. This would also make the Office subject to LACA, because LACA applies to government institutions under both the ATIA and PA.
Implications
These instruments do not involve any costs to Canadians or businesses, as it is part of an initiative that would simply extend to the Office the same information and privacy requirements that are currently applied to government institutions subject to the ATIA, PA and LACA.
Any costs associated with the administration of the Rail Fund (including handling access to information requests and managing documents in accordance with the LACA) are to be paid out of the Rail Fund itself. This would not be considered an additional cost associated with these instruments, as this is already provided for in subsection 154.2(3) of the CTA.
The Order Amending the Access to Information Act Heads of Government Institutions Designation Order will come into force on the later of the following days: the day on which it is made, or the day on which the Order Amending Schedule I to the Access to Information Act (Office of the Administrator of the Fund for Railway Accidents Involving Designated Goods) comes into force. The Order Amending the Privacy Act Heads of Government Institutions Designation Order will come into force on the later of the following days: the day on which it is made or the day on which the Order Amending the Schedule to the Privacy Act (Office of the Administrator of the Fund for Railway Accidents Involving Designated Goods) comes into force. Due to the nature of these Orders, enforcement strategies are not required.
Once the Office is subject to the ATIA, PA and LACA, the Administrator of the Rail Fund will be required to adhere to the service standards included in those Acts, including those relating to access request response timelines.
In terms of monitoring and reporting on performance, both the ATIA and PA require that the head of every government institution submit to Parliament an annual report on the administration of those Acts within the institution.
Consultation
These instruments are one part of a larger initiative — SARA’s strengthened liability and compensation regime for rail. SARA was the subject of two rounds of stakeholder consultations, Parliamentary debate and study by Standing Committees before it received royal assent. Given their nature, no specific consultations were conducted with respect to these instruments.
Departmental contacts
Sarah Geh
Acting Director and General Counsel
Centre for Information and Privacy Law
Department of Justice Canada
East Memorial Building, Room 3175
284 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0H8
Telephone: 613-960-4858
Email: sarah.geh@justice.gc.ca
Marcia Jones
Director
Rail Policy Analysis and Legislative Initiatives
Surface Transportation Policy
Transport Canada
330 Sparks Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0N5
Telephone: 613-998-1918
Email: marcia.jones@tc.gc.ca
- Footnote a
S.C. 2006, c. 9, s. 142 - Footnote b
R.S., c. A-1 - Footnote 1
SI/83-113