Annual Report on the Access to Information Act 2022–2023

Annual Report on the Access to Information Act 2022–2023 [PDF 1981 KB]

ISSN 2563-3090

Copyright/Permission to Reproduce

About the Canada Energy Regulator

The Canadian Energy Regulator regulates interprovincial and international pipelines and powerlines, offshore renewable energy projects, oil and natural gas operations in frontier areas, and energy trade. The Canadian Energy Regulator’s mission is regulating infrastructure to ensure safe and efficient delivery of energy to Canadians and the world; protecting the environment; respecting the rights of Indigenous peoples; and, providing timely and relevant energy information and analysis. The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources is responsible for this organization.

For more information about the CER please visit our website.

The Access to Information Act

The Access to Information Act (the Act) gives the Canadian public a right to access information contained in federal government records, subject to certain specific and limited exceptions. In accordance with section 94 of the Act, the head of every federal institution is required to submit an Annual Report to Parliament on the administration of the Act following the close of each fiscal year. The Annual Reports are then tabled in Parliament pursuant to section 94 of the Act. This report describes how the Canada Energy Regulator (CER) fulfilled its access to information responsibilities during the fiscal year 2022-23.

Organizational Structure

Access to information requests at the CER are processed by the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Office, which is part of the Open Government Team. The Open Government Team reports to the Vice President (VP), Data and Information Management, who is the delegated ATIP Coordinator.

Access to information requests are received primarily through two channels; e-mail and the ATIP Online Request Service (AORT) Requests are also occasionally received through the mail. Requests received through the mail are logged into the CER’s records management system by the Data & Information Management department and then forwarded to the ATIP Office.

As of the end of 2022-2023, the CER had four full-time employees, including a Group Leader and three ATIP Officers who allocated their time to activities related to the Act.

All Proactive Publication Requirements are overseen by the Vice President Chief of Staff and Vice President Performance and Results.

Delegation Order

The CER Act designates the CER CEO with the authority to exercise the powers, duties and functions of the Act. The CEO has historically sub delegated this authority. The ATIP Office reports to the VP, Data and Information Management to whom the CER CEO’s authority under the Act has been delegated.

The delegation changed from the previous reporting year. Under the current order, there are three Executives positions that have been delegated full authority under the Act. They are: the VP, Data and Information Management (primary ATIP Coordinator), the VP, Systems Operations, EVP People Innovation and Results (alternate ATIP Coordinators). The Director of Open Government and the Group Leader ATIP have limited authorization under section 9. From an operational standpoint, granting this authority to three individuals ensures that files can be reviewed and signed- off without undue delay

See annex B for a copy of the delegation order.

Performance 2021–2022

In 2022-23, the CER received 13 requests under the Act. This is 56% fewer than the number of requests received in the previous reporting period.

The CER achieved a compliance rating of 64.3% for completed Access to Information requests closed within the legislated timeframe in 2022- 23, which is a lower than the previous year. The CER’s ATIP Office will continue to strive for both improved compliance rates and quality of information released.

In late 2022-23, the CER began transitioning to the new ATIP Express software, which should improve process efficiencies in future years.

Section 9 of the Act permits an extension of statutory time limits under certain circumstances. In 2022-23, the CER invoked extensions on 4 occasions, or on about 50% of files, a slight increase compared to 40% in the previous year. In 2 of these cases, an extension was required to conduct third-party notifications. In 2 cases, an extension was invoked since the large volume of records made it impossible to meet the original timelines without interfering with CER operations.

The CER also received 79 new informal requests, completing 76 during the reporting period. A total of 76 informal requests were previously released packages under the Act identified on the “Completed Access to Information Requests” posted on Canada’s Open Government site.

For requests closed during the reporting period, the CER processed a total of 983 pages and disclosed 777 pages to requesters. This represents a decrease from the number of pages processed last fiscal year. The decreased workload meant the ATIP Office focused on managing outstanding files and complaints.

Other federal government agencies and departments also consulted the CER on 12 occasions on which the records under their control related to CER activities. The CER processed 211 pages for these consultations.

The CER observed that the most frequent types of requesters in 2022-2023 were from requestors that declined to identify (69%) the media (23%), followed by the academia (8%).

In 2022-2023, the CER closed 14 requests. Of the requests closed during the reporting period, records for 22% were fully disclosed and 42% were disclosed in part. There were no requests for which relevant records were exempted in their entirety. Of the remaining requests, 14 % were abandoned by the applicant and 22% had no records associated with them.

Most of the exemptions invoked by the CER in 2022-2023 fell under four sections of the Act: subsection 19(1), which protects personal information; paragraph 21(1)(b), which protect the deliberation process of public servants; paragraph 21(1)(a), which protects advice and recommendations; section 23, which protects solicitor-client privileged information.

During 2022-2023 most work was completed remotely with minimal disruption. Processing times continued to be hindered by outdated ATIP redaction and case management software. ATIP Express, the newly purchased software program, is scheduled to be in place in 2023-24. The new software will improve processing times and more robustly capture ATIP statistics for monthly and annual reporting.

See annex A for further statistical information.

Reporting on Access to Information fees for the purposes of the Service Fees Act

The Service Fees Act requires a responsible authority to report annually to Parliament on the fees collected by the institution.

With respect to fees collected under the Access to Information Act, the information below is reported in accordance with the requirements of section 20 of the Service Fees Act

• Authority: Access to Information Act
• Fee amount: $5 fee per ATI request
• Total revenue: $63 in 2022–2023
• No Fees waived: in 2022–2023

In accordance with the Interim Directive on the Administration of the Access to Information Act, issued on May 5, 2016, and the changes to the Access to Information Act that came into force on June 21, 2019, the Canada Energy Regulator waives all fees prescribed by the Act and Regulations, other than the $5 application fee set out in paragraph 7(1)(a) of the Regulations.

During 2022-2023, the CER Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Office incurred $333,825 in salary costs.

Training and Awareness

Training continues to be an area of focus for the CER ATIP Office. In 2022-23, the ATIP Office delivered targeted training which included onboarding new employees and providing annual refresher training to staff and OPIs. The COVID work from home environment and new technologies continued status quo through to March 31, 2023.

Policies, Guidelines, Procedures and Initiatives

Documentation and training materials on the CER ATIP program were updated and made available through the corporate intranet, along with links to other materials, such as the Acts, Treasury Board Secretariat policies and guidance documents, and a range of information management and guidance tools.

The CER continued to examine its ATIP procedures in an effort to enable continuous improvement and to identify opportunities for efficiencies in processing access to information and privacy requests. The CER purchased new ATIP Express software in 2022-23, and this will be fully implemented in 2023-24.

As an organization that values openness and transparency, the CER strives to ensure that information is made publicly available without recourse to the Act. Exceptions to public access to information are limited and specific, as required by the legislation.

Summary of Key Issues and Actions Taken on Complaints

During 2022–2023, there was one new complaint registered with the Office of the Information Commissioner. All 14 previously outstanding complaints were closed out.

No appeals were made to the Federal Court of Canada during 2022–23.

The CER is a government entity listed in Schedule II of the Financial Administration Act, subject to the proactive publication requirements under sections 82 to 84 and 86 to 88 of the Access to Information Act. All reports are located on Open.Canada.ca.

Training on the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act was offered by the ATIP Office which delivers both specialized training to respond to the needs of officers and clients, and general training to raise employees’ awareness of their responsibilities under these Acts. In this regard, the CER reviewed its ATIP training materials (i.e. tasking email, PowerPoint presentation, etc.) towards improving its training and communications with CER leadership and staff.

In addition to its online training, the ATIP Office also delivered presentations to the Data Community of Practice as well as the onboarding of new Board Commissioners.

During 2022-23, the CER continued to require that all CER staff and contractors successfully pass the Access to Information and Privacy Fundamentals – COR502 course offered by the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS). During this reporting period, 29 CER employees and contractors registered for the course with 29 completing it successfully.

With the implementation of the new ATIP Express redaction software coupled with reinvigorated awareness and training on appropriate records management the ATIP Office anticipates accelerated response and processing times of requests. The AI enabled in the new redaction software will improve processing time of relevant documents and in turn will result in shorter processing timelines. The CER’s ability to be responsive to requestors with packages that are timely and responsive.

The CER’s ATIP Officers actively participate in annual ATIP courses including, but not limited to CSPS courses, webinars and Deep Dives offered by the Treasury Board‘s Information and Privacy Policy Department as well as ATIP practitioner conferences.

Monitoring Compliance

The ATIP Group Leader meets weekly with the Team of ATIP Officers for full case reviews. This includes discussions with regard to technical issues, status/progress updates and the timeliness of processing requests.

These findings are regularly communicated through the Director of Open Government to the ATIP Coordinator.

All requests are tracked in a central repository and are reviewed and updated weekly.

Monthly statistical reports are provided from the ATIP Group Leader to the Director of Open Government. These statistics are presented to the ATP Coordinator responsible for the oversight of the ATIP program.

The CER does not have a structured monitoring process for the accuracy and completeness of proactively published information.

Annex A – Statistical Information

Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act

Name of institution: Canada Energy Regulator

Reporting period: 4/1/2022 to 3/31/2023

Section 1: Requests Under the Access to Information Act

1.1 Number of requests

1.2 Sources of requests

1.3 Channels of requests

Section 2: Informal Requests

2.1 Number of informal requests

2.2 Channels of informal requests

2.3 Completion time of informal requests

2.4 Pages released informally

2.5 Pages re-released informally

Section 3: Applications to the Information Commissioner on Declining to Act on Requests

Section 4: Requests Closed During the Reporting Period

4.1 Disposition and completion time

4.2 Exemptions

4.3 Exclusions

4.4 Format of information released

4.5 Complexity

4.5.1 Relevant pages processed and disclosed for paper and e-record formats

4.5.2 Relevant pages processed per request disposition for paper and e-record formats by size of requests

4.5.3 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for audio formats

4.5.4 Relevant minutes processed per request disposition for audio formats by size of requests

4.5.5 Relevant minutes processed and disclosed for video formats

4.5.6 Relevant minutes processed per request disposition for video formats by size of requests

4.5.7 Other complexities

4.6 Closed requests

4.6.1 Requests closed within legislated timelines

4.7 Deemed refusals

4.7.1 Reasons for not meeting legislated timelines

4.7.2 Requests closed beyond legislated timelines (including any extension taken)

4.8 Requests for translation

Section 5: Extensions

5.1 Reasons for extensions and disposition of requests

5.2 Length of extensions

Section 6: Fees

Section 7: Consultations Received From Other Institutions and Organizations

7.1 Consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions and other organizations

7.2 Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other Government of Canada institutions

7.3 Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other organizations outside the Government of Canada

Section 8: Completion Time of Consultations on Cabinet Confidences

8.1 Requests with Legal Services

8.2 Requests with Privy Council Office

Section 9: Investigations and Reports of finding

9.1 Investigations

9.2 Investigations and Reports of finding

Section 10: Court Action

10.1 Court actions on complaints

10.2 Court actions on third party notifications under paragraph 28(1)(b)

Section 11: Resources Related to the Access to Information Act

11.1 Allocated Costs

11.2 Human Resources

Note: Enter values to three decimal places.

Supplemental Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act

Name of institution: Canada Energy Regulator

Reporting period: 2022-04-01 to 2023-03-31

Section 1: Capacity to Receive Requests under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act

Enter the number of weeks your institution was able to receive ATIP requests through the different channels.

Section 2: Capacity to Process Records under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act

2.1 Enter the number of weeks your institution was able to process paper records in different classification levels.

2.2 Enter the number of weeks your institution was able to process electronic records in different classification levels.

Section 3: Open Requests and Complaints Under the Access to Information Act

3.1 Enter the number of open requests that are outstanding from previous reporting periods.

3.2 Enter the number of open complaints with the Information Commissioner of Canada that are outstanding from previous reporting periods.

Section 4: Open Requests and Complaints Under the Privacy Act

4.1 Enter the number of open requests that are outstanding from previous reporting periods.

4.2 Enter the number of open complaints with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada that are outstanding from previous reporting periods.

Section 5: Social Insurance Number (SIN)

Section 6: Universal Access under the Privacy Act

Annex B – Delegation Order

Delegation of Authority pursuant to
the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act

I, the Chief Executive Officer of the Canada Energy Regulator, pursuant to section 95(1) of the Access to Information Act^Footnote 1 and section 73(1) of the Privacy Act^Footnote 2, hereby designate the persons holding the positions set out in the Delegation of Authority Schedule attached hereto, or the persons occupying those positions on an acting basis, to exercise the powers, duties and functions of the Chief Executive Officer of the Canada Energy Regulator under the provisions of the Acts and related regulations set out in the schedule opposite each position. This designation supersedes all previous delegation orders.

Dated at the City of Calgary, in the Province of Alberta, this 1^st day of April 2022.

______________________________
Gitane De Silva
Chief Executive Officer

Delegation of Authority Schedule

Date modified:

2023-10-20