Public utility company releases hidden records at nearly $700,000 cost

Ottawa-based watchdog Blacklock’s Reporter sought hidden information from Hydro Ottawa by way of Canada’s Freedom Of Data Act and had been charged a record-breaking $669,762. 

Blacklock’s Reporter is interesting the associated fee estimate as grossly inflated.

The Act permits the general public to request data associated to federal establishments to “improve the accountability and transparency” in authorities, . It exists to “to advertise an open and democratic society and to allow public debate on the conduct of these establishments.”

Making use of for entry to authorities entry usually comes at a payment up to a couple hundred {dollars}, and in some circumstances a pair thousand. It is rather uncommon for the expense to be greater than $5,000. 

Blacklock’s Reporter requested information documenting its use of alternative staff in a 2023 strike simply weeks previous to Ottawa’s announcement of a invoice limiting use of alternative staff within the federally regulated sector.

It sought particulars of the utility’s use of alternative staff over the course of 118 enterprise days “from Could 1 to October 17, 2023 together with all paperwork, information, recordsdata, correspondence and digital communication, knowledge and invoices, excluding information already made public, relating to AFIMAC and XOH Powerline, Batte Pole Line Ltd., KPC Energy Electrical Ltd., Aerial Work Utilities and Jet Electrical Contractors.”

Authorized counsel for Hydro Ottawa Matthew Carey responded to the request saying it will take hundreds of hours in “preparation time” to supply such paperwork. 

“It has turn out to be clear that important work shall be required to seek for and put together responsive information for disclosure,” wrote Carey. “Given the quantity of probably responsive information we anticipate that we could have to situation a time extension discover upon receipt of the deposit.”

Carey stated Blacklock’s Reporter ought to pay upfront for half the charges, which he estimated to be $669,762, the best ever payment for entry to public data, with Hydro Ottawa claiming the request coated 640,234 pages of paperwork that might take 18,047 hours to evaluation and photocopy. 

That quantities to greater than 5,400 every enterprise day. 

Hydro Ottawa settled a strike with the Worldwide Brotherhood of Electrical Staff Native 636 that lasted 83 days and concerned 390 staff on September 20. The utility firm employed alternative staff throughout that point. 

The strike ended seven weeks earlier than the federal authorities launched Invoice C-58 An Act To Amend The Canada Labour Code, which restricts federally regulated employers’ use of alternative staff underneath menace of $100,000-a day fines.

Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan referred to as Invoice C-58, which is at the moment in its second studying within the Home of Commons, “an enormous change” in labour relations nationwide. 

“It is going to essentially change how labour relations function on this nation,” O’Regan stated within the Home of Commons. “The labour motion has been saying alternative staff are flawed for longer than this nation has existed.”

“Individuals within the labour motion have been telling us that alternative staff distract from the bargaining desk and extend disputes and that the usage of alternative staff can poison the connection between an employer and staff for generations after. We listened to the employees,” he stated.