Annual Report on the Access to Information Act 2023–2024

Annual Report on the Access to Information Act 2023–2024 [PDF 3353 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 in a way that prevents harm and ensures the safe, reliable, competitive and environmentally sustainable delivery of energy to Canada and the world. We recognize and respect the inherent and constitutionally protected rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis. We provide energy information and analysis that informs and supports Canada’s transition towards a net zero future. 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. This report describes how the CER fulfilled its access to information responsibilities during the fiscal year 2023–24. The CER does not have any non-operational subsidiaries during this reporting period.

The CER is subject to the Services Fees Act with respect to fees collected under the Access to Information Act and this Annual Report for fiscal year 2023–24 is prepared and tabled in accordance with section 20 of the Services Fees Act. The Annual Reports are then submitted and tabled to Parliament.

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 Director reports to the Vice President (VP), Data and Information Management, who is the primary delegated ATIP Coordinator. As of the end of 2023–2024, the CER had four full–time ATIP Officers who allocated their time to activities related to the Act.

The CER is not party to any service agreements under section 96 of the Access to Information Act during the reporting period.

The CER’s Access to Information Act responsibilities including part 2 Proactive Publication Requirements are overseen based on area of responsibility. The Vice President (VP) Chief of Staff coordinates the proactive disclosure of all deputy head briefing materials, memoranda, reports tabled in Parliament and committee appearance materials. The VP Performance and Results is responsible for the proactive publication of travel and hospitality expenses as well as contracts over $10,000. The VP Communications and Engagement oversees the proactive publication of all Grants and Contributions over $25,000. The timely reporting completion is tracked monthly by the Open Government team and overseen by the VP Data and Information Management.

Delegation Order

The CER Act designates the CER Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with the authority to exercise the powers, duties, and functions of the Act. The CEO has historically subdelegated this authority. The ATIP team 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, four Executive positions have been delegated full authority under the Act. They are the VP, Data and Information Management (primary ATIP Coordinator), the VP, People and Workforce, VP Secretary of the Commission and VP Communications and Engagement (alternate ATIP Coordinators). The Director of Open Government has also been delegated full authority (last resort ATIP Coordinator). The Group Leader ATIP has limited authorization under section 9. From an operational standpoint, granting these authorities to six individuals ensures that files can be reviewed and signed-off without undue delay.

See annex B for a copy of the delegation order.

Performance 2023-2024

In 2023-24, the CER received 51 requests under the Act. This is nearly a 400% increase over the number of requests received in the previous reporting period.

The CER achieved a compliance rating of 86% for completed Access to Information requests closed within the legislated timeframe in 2023–24, which is higher than the previous year. The CER’s ATIP Office will continue to strive for both improved compliance rates and the quality of information released.

In late 2022-23, the CER began transitioning to the new ATIPXpress 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 2023–24, the CER invoked extensions on 12 occasions, or on about 43% of closed files, a slight decrease compared to 50% in the previous year. In one of these cases, an extension was required to conduct third–party notifications, in two cases, an extension was invoked since the large volume of records made it impossible to meet the original timelines without interfering with CER operations. In nine cases, both third–party notifications and a large volume of records were invoked for an extension.

The CER also received and completed 61 new informal requests during the reporting period, a slight reduction from 79 informal requests received in the previous reporting period. All 61 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 5,173 pages and disclosed 3,749 pages to requesters. This represents an increase from the number of pages processed last fiscal year. This large number of processed pages is a direct result of the ATIP Office focus on previous outstanding files and complaints.

Other federal government agencies and departments also consulted the CER on 14 occasions on which the records under their control related to CER activities. The CER processed 716 pages for these consultations.

The CER observed that the most frequent types of requesters in 2023-2024 were from business (61%), the academia (7%), the public (20%), followed by the media (12%).

In 2023-2024, the CER closed 28 requests. Of the requests closed during the reporting period, records for 32% were fully disclosed, 32% were disclosed in part and 32% no records existed. There were no requests for which relevant records were exempted in their entirety. Of the remaining requests, 4% were abandoned by the applicant.

Most of the exemptions invoked by the CER in 2023–2024 fell under subsection 19(1) of the Act, which protects personal information; paragraph 21(1)(b), which protects the deliberation process of public servants; paragraph 21(1)(a), which protects advice and recommendations; section 23, which protects solicitor–client privileged information.

During 2023–2024 processing times continued to be hindered by outdated ATIP redaction and case management software. The newly purchased ATIPXpress software roll–out experienced delays due to resources and is scheduled to be in place in Q1 of 2024–25. The new software will avoid duplication and 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.

Regarding 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: $115 in 2023–2024
• No Fees waived: $5 in 2023–2024

In accordance with the Directive on Access to Information Requests, issued on July 13, 2022, 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 of the Regulations.

During 2023–2024, the CER Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Office incurred $311,281 in salary costs.

Training and Awareness

Training continues to be an area of focus for the CER ATIP Office. In 2023–24, the ATIP Office delivered targeted training which included onboarding new employees and providing annual refresher training to staff and Offices of Primary Interest. Training on Proactive Publication was provided as one–on–one training to maximize understanding.

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 of Canada policies and guidance documents, and a range of information management and guidance tools.

The CER continued to examine its ATIP procedures to enable continuous improvement and identify opportunities for efficiencies in processing access to information and privacy requests. The CER ATIPXpress software will be fully implemented in 2024–2025.

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.

Proactive Publication under Part 2

The Open Government team works with department officials to fulfill the proactive publication legislative requirements in Part 2 of the Access to Information Act. Sections 82 to 84 and 86 to 88 of Part 2 of the Act, stipulate that government entities that support a minister, are required to publish proactively to Open Canada travel expenses, hospitality expenses, reports tabled in Parliament, contracts, grants and contributions, briefing material and expense reports. Within the CER, this responsibility falls to the Performance and Results Business Unit, the Executive Office Business Unit and the Communications and Engagement Business Unit in collaboration with the Open Government Team. Executives within each Business Unit regularly monitor their compliance to ensure the accuracy and completeness of proactively published information.

Summary of Key Issues and Actions Taken on Complaints

During 2023–2024, three new complaints were registered with the Office of the Information Commissioner, and one was outstanding from the previous reporting period. Three of these four complaints were closed, one cancelled, one resolved, and one not well founded. At the end of this reporting period, one complaint remains under review by the Office of the Information Commissioner.

No appeals were made to the Federal Court of Canada during 2023–24.

In addition to its online training, the ATIP Office delivered presentations to the CER’s Internal Data Community of Practice and the onboarding of new CER Commissioners.

During 2023-24, 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, 44 CER employees and contractors registered and successfully completed the course.

With implementation of the new ATIPXpress 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 software will improve the processing time of relevant documents, resulting in shorter processing timelines. Enhancing the CER’s ability to be responsive to requestors with packages that are timely and complete.

The CER’s ATIP Officers actively participate in annual ATIP courses, webinars and Deep Dives offered by the Canada School of Public Service and the Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada.

Monitoring Compliance

The Director Open Government meets weekly with the ATIP Team for full case reviews. This includes discussions about 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 by the ATIP Team to the Director of Open Government. These statistics are presented to the ATIP Coordinator responsible for the oversight of the ATIP program.

Annex A – Statistical Information

Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act

Name of institution: Canada Energy Regulator

Reporting period: 4/1/2023 to 3/31/2024

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: 2023-04-01 to 2024-03-31

Section 1: Open Requests and Complaints Under the Access to Information Act

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

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

Section 2: Open Requests and Complaints Under the Privacy Act

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

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

Section 3: Social Insurance Number

Section 4: 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

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 31^st day of July 2023.

______________________________
Tracy Sletto
Chief Executive Officer

Delegation of Authority Schedule

Date modified:

2024-12-11