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The co-ordinator took three months to deny it as well, saying the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act prevents the release of third-party information, supplied in confidence, that would cause harm if released.

I appealed to the provincial commissioner. Then the waiting really began. Monday this week, 15 months after the initial application, I got the result.

Senior information commissioner Catherine Taylor decided I’m right. The public does have a right to see this information because it isn’t TransEd’s information at all. That section of the provincial act was wrongly applied.

Unfortunately, I still don’t have the non-conformance reports. The city now has until Sept. 9 to say whether it agrees with Taylor’s assessment.

In the meantime, I need to submit a new $25 information request for non-conformance reports since May 2018 or any information I get will be hopelessly out of date.

Photo by Ed Kaiser / Postmedia

This waiting isn’t new. Remember the Amazon headquarters bid? I asked for a copy after Edmonton submitted a bid in October 2017. That was denied. In April, 20 months after my request, the province supported my appeal. But I still have no information.

Again the city (and its partner, the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation) argued the bid included third-party information that would cause harm if released. Again the province disagreed. The parties now have until Aug. 30 to release it.

This matters because city officials are constantly using the provincial privacy act to justify withholding city documents and going in private at council meetings. But they apply the act too liberally; I’ve seen this when I appeal. Because there are long wait times with no penalty, a gun-shy city administration could misapply the act, again and again, if it wished.