Latest news with #OfficeoftheInformationandPrivacyCommissioner
Edmonton Journal
18-07-2025
- Edmonton Journal
Theft of mail at City of Edmonton facility prompts public alert
The City of Edmonton is alerting the public about a break-in and theft that occurred at a City facility after-hours on the weekend of June 28, one it says may have 'compromised the privacy of a limited number of Edmontonians.' Article content Edmonton city police are investigating after staff discovered the theft of up to 200 pieces of mail and other items on June 30, said a Thursday City of Edmonton news release. Article content Article content Article content Article content 'While the City takes all necessary precautions to safeguard the personal information entrusted to it by Edmontonians, no organization is immune to criminal activity.' Article content Upon discovering the theft, the City of Edmonton relocated mail storage to another secure location. It also launched an internal privacy investigation to determine the extent of the privacy breach, said the release. And it has reported the privacy breach to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner and the provincial Minister of Technology and Innovation. Article content Article content Staff have been reaching out to potentially affected individuals where possible. Anyone who dropped off mail at a City facility – including recreation centres, attractions and the Edmonton Service Centre – or sent mail to the City locally via Canada Post between June 24 and June 27, is encouraged to contact the City of Edmonton to confirm receipt of their mail, said the release. Article content Article content Visit to confirm the appropriate contact. Alternatively, you can email mailservicesbreach@ or call 311 to be directed to the correct person. Article content Those who believe their personal information has been collected, used, or disclosed in contravention of the Protection of Privacy Act can request a review by the Information and Privacy Commissioner under Section 37 of the Act. Article content Article content
Edmonton Journal
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Edmonton Journal
Rob Breakenridge: Government secrecy taking hold in Alberta
Article content The first request for responses from the pension survey was sent off to the government by Postmedia in September 2023. Subsequent requests were filed in the ensuing months, but those produced either completely redacted records or no records at all. Late last year, Alberta's Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) began a review into how the government responded to those requests. Last week, the government finally relented and provided Postmedia reporter Matthew Black with the results of the pension plan engagement survey. For the record, the survey showed 63 per cent opposition to leaving the Canada Pension Plan, with only 10 per cent expressing support for the idea of a new, separate Alberta Pension Plan.
Calgary Herald
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Calgary Herald
Breakenridge: Government secrecy taking hold in Alberta
Article content It was a fairly simple matter, really: between September and December of 2023, more than 94,000 Albertans took part in the government's pension plan engagement survey. What were the results of that survey? Article content It's not as though the results were lost or destroyed. The Alberta government had those results and had been sitting on them all along. The thoughts of Albertans on a matter of public importance hardly constitute some sort of state secret, either. Article content Article content Article content It took almost two years of digging and prodding, but we finally have the answer. Regardless of one's views on the pension plan debate, it's troubling that we'd see such secrecy around something so straightforward. Article content Article content Unfortunately, this is becoming the norm under this government. Hopefully, such a blatant and clunky attempt at secrecy will be a wake-up call when it comes to the erosion of access to information rights in Alberta. Article content The first request for responses from the pension survey was sent off to the government by Postmedia in September 2023. Subsequent requests were filed in the ensuing months, but those produced either completely redacted records or no records at all. Late last year, Alberta's Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) began a review into how the government responded to those requests. Article content Last week, the government finally relented and provided Postmedia reporter Matthew Black with the results of the pension plan engagement survey. For the record, the survey showed 63 per cent opposition to leaving the Canada Pension Plan, with only 10 per cent expressing support for the idea of a new, separate Alberta Pension Plan. Article content Article content It's hard to imagine if those results were flipped that the Alberta government would have engaged in a 21-month campaign to keep them hidden from view. But the potential embarrassment stemming from a public rejection of a government narrative is a pretty flimsy basis for such a lack of transparency. Article content This is why access to information is so important and why strong laws are needed to protect that transparency. The problem with that, however, is that access to information laws are crafted and shaped by the same governments that might have a vested interest in limiting access to information. Article content Last December, the government passed new legislation overhauling privacy and access to information legislation. Among other things, the bill ushers in new exemptions for all sorts of documents and correspondence, putting them out of reach of access to information requests.
Calgary Herald
18-06-2025
- Business
- Calgary Herald
Alberta releases its pension survey results, 63% opposed to leaving CPP
After a more than 21-month wait, the Alberta government has released to Postmedia the results of its 2023 provincial pension plan engagement survey, which show nearly two-thirds of respondents were opposed to leaving the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). Article content Postmedia first filed a request for responses from the survey a week after it opened in September of 2023, and followed up with multiple further requests in the following months, all of which produced either no records or records that were entirely redacted. Article content Article content Article content Last December, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner opened reviews into the government's response to three requests: one seeking a summary of the survey results, a second looking for copies of the open-answer questions in the survey, and a third for completed copies of the pension workbook that was distributed in late 2023. Article content Article content According to that summary, 63 per cent of respondents were opposed to an Alberta pension plan (APP), 10 per cent were in favour of an APP, and 12 per cent were undecided or unsure. Article content The remaining 15 per cent were other forms of responses, including questions about implementation, suggestions for other alternatives, non-answers, and incomplete responses. Article content Article content More than 94,000 Albertans completed the survey between its opening on Sept. 21, 2023, and its conclusion on Dec. 10, 2023. Article content Article content The government issued a statement to Postmedia following the release of the results. Article content 'While recent surveys on an APP show public opinion may be shifting, we will continue to engage with Albertans on this topic through the Alberta Next panel. The Alberta Pension Protection Act guarantees we won't replace the CPP with an Alberta Pension Plan unless Albertans approve it in a referendum.' Article content Polls from Leger in August and again last February both showed around 23 per cent support for leaving the CPP. Article content A government-commissioned survey by respected pollster Janet Brown found that 55 per cent of those who had made up their minds on the issue were in favour of a provincial pension plan if it 'guaranteed all Alberta seniors the same or better benefits' than the existing federal plan.
Toronto Star
08-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Star
Vancouver short-term rental data at stake in ongoing freedom of information dispute
VANCOUVER - Vancouver affordable housing advocate Rohana Rezel says he's keeping up a six-year freedom of information fight with the City of Vancouver and Airbnb over data on short-term rental operators despite it likely being out of date. Rezel filed two requests with the city under the Freedom of Information and the Protection of Privacy Act in 2019, seeking records about Airbnb and other short-term rental operators in Vancouver, including names, addresses and business licence numbers. The city refused and Airbnb opposed the release, leading to years of legal wrangling involving B.C.'s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, and the province's Supreme and Appeal Courts. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW An adjudicator with the privacy office ruled in 2021 that the city wasn't allowed to 'refuse access' to business licence numbers and addresses of short-term rentals, but Airbnb and the city went to court claiming the office was obligated to notify 20,000 short-term rental operators to give them a chance to weigh in on the dispute. An adjudicator's decision released Wednesday says the commissioner's office is not required to contact the thousands of owners, finding it 'would not be a fair, timely or efficient administration' of the act, and both the city and company could have raised the issue 'as early as possible but failed to do so.' Rezel says the information he's seeking is likely out of date now, but he plans to continue fighting for access, over the dispute that has evolved from access to housing data to a 'battle for public transparency' and corporate interests versus a citizen's right to access public information. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2025.
