Hockey Canada does not want you to know how it spent millions of dollars in government subsidies, said Blacklock’s Reporter..The governing body in a rare Federal Court application claimed it faced “material financial loss” if information was disclosed and asked a federal judge to seal records detailing what it does with the subsidies..“The records contain financial and commercial information, notably with respect to financial information, per diem, unit prices and other pricing information,” lawyers wrote the Court. Hockey Canada does not publish audited financial statements in its Annual Reports..Court documents show the application was prompted by a confidential July 22 letter from the Department of Canadian Heritage department indicating it would “disclose certain records” under the Access To Information Act. Hockey Canada received more than $9.8 million in federal grants in the past year..An unidentified requester asked the Department of Heritage for “all grant applications from Hockey Canada, how they spent the $9 million, and correspondence between Hockey Canada and any minister of Canadian Heritage or deputy minister, and minister of Sport or deputy minister, including emails and meeting notes.”.The department had no qualms with disclosing records, according to lawyers. However Hockey Canada said releasing information “could reasonably be expected to result in material financial loss to Hockey Canada or result in material financial gain to the competitors of Hockey Canada.”.Disclosure “would prejudice the applicant’s competitive position,” lawyers wrote the Court. Publishing details of how subsidies were spent could “cause it serious financial hardship.”.Hockey Canada asked the records be withheld by the department, and that courthouse files be permanently sealed. No date for a hearing was fixed..Federal lawsuits to block Access To Information disclosure are rare but not unprecedented, and typically involve private corporations that receive federal aid. Bombardier Inc. in 2018 sued to prevent the disclosure of terms and conditions of $139.6 million in funding it received from the Department of Industry..The Hockey Canada dispute follows January 11 remarks by Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard that the Access To Information Act mandating disclosure of public information was so broken it “could soon be beyond repair.” Maynard made her comments in a report to Parliament..“Times of crisis often exacerbate and reveal a system’s weak links,” wrote Maynard. “The current pandemic is no exception as it has highlighted the weak links in the federal Access To Information regime.”.“The Access regime had already entered a critical phase before the pandemic and could soon be beyond repair if certain problems are not resolved, in particular inadequate leadership,” said Maynard. The Commissioner’s remarks came as part of a statutory review of the Act in a report titled Observations And Recommendations From The Information Commissioner..Western Standard
