Privy Council Office, Access to Information and Privacy

The letter · 24 September 2026

Re: PCO File Number: A-2026-00582 RE: Request under the Access to Information Act — pension consequences of termination for cause of Governor in Council appointees, 2000 to 2026 — with a request for a fee waiver under subsection 11(2)

Hello,

This answers the message of 24 September 2026 from the Deputy Director, Access to Information and Privacy, on my request of the same day.

ONE FILE NUMBER, TWO REQUESTS.

On 11 September 2026 the Office wrote to me: "your request has been created and assigned an initial received date of September 8, 2026. Your file number is A-2026-00582." That request concerns the federal response to the fertility rate. On 24 September 2026 the Office wrote to me: "your request has been created and assigned an initial received date of September 24, 2026. Your file number is A-2026-00582." That request concerns the pension consequences of termination for cause of Governor in Council appointees. 2 requests, received 16 days apart, carry one number, and both letters are signed by the same official. A register that cannot tell two requests apart supports no date the Office later asserts on either of them.

THE OFFICE OPENED THE FILE AND SAYS THE CLOCK HAS NOT STARTED.

The message records that the request "has been created" with "an initial received date of September 24, 2026". The exchange forwarded beneath it records the intake officer asking whether to create the request "as the fee has not been paid", and the Deputy Director answering "Yes. Please create the request". The Office received the request, dated its receipt, opened a file and assigned it a number. The same message states that "the statutory timeline will not commence" until the fee is paid. Section 7 runs "within 30 days after the request is received", subject to sections 8 and 9. The reference to section 11 was removed from section 7 by S.C. 2019, c. 18, s. 6.2. The only suspension in the Act is subsection 6.1(1.2), and it requires an application to the Information Commissioner. On the Office's own date of receipt the period ends on 24 October 2026.

THE FIFTH REFUSAL WITHOUT REASONS.

The request asked that a refusal of the waiver be given in writing with reasons. The message names the delegate and gives no reason. The Office refused the waiver on files A-2026-00579, A-2026-00580, A-2026-00581 and A-2026-00582 on 11 September 2026 without reasons; my letters of 12 and 13 September 2026 asked for the reasons; none has been given. This is the fifth refusal by the same delegate and the fifth without a reason. Subsection 4(2.1) requires the institution to respond accurately and completely. A refusal that states no reason is neither.

WHAT THE OFFICE IS TO DO BY 1 OCTOBER 2026.

1. Assign the request of 24 September 2026 a file number of its own and confirm in writing which request carries A-2026-00582.

2. Produce the reasons for the refusal of the waiver under subsection 11(2) on this request, in writing, over the name of the delegate.

3. Name the provision under which the period under section 7 "will not commence" on a request the Office has received and dated. If there is none, confirm that the period ends on 24 October 2026.

The refusal, the hold and the duplicated number go to the Information Commissioner today under paragraphs 30(1)(b) and 30(1)(f), as the second complaint on the Office's handling of the fee. The first, of 17 September 2026, is pending. If no response is given by 24 October 2026, the request is deemed refused under subsection 10(3), and a complaint under paragraph 30(1)(a) follows on 25 October 2026.

Respectfully,
Danilo Dzyuban