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dealing with those kinds of requests. "Now with the added pres- sure of the BPS (Broader Public Sector Procurement Directive) around procurement we have to be so rigid with how we structure those and it' some of the big RFPs go out," says Taylor. "It won't be an unnerv- ing thing for the health-care sector just because it' Hospital Association advised hospitals to proactively release their top executive compensation contracts, along with board minutes and financial plans. "The OHA was pushing us to do it before Jan. 1," says Taylor. "There was a real concern among the senior executives that FIPPA was forcing us to do that but it' In terms of executive compensation disclosure, the Ontario " far beyond what FIPPA would ever allow, but the fear of FIPPA really motivated people to do it." Now hospitals like CAMH and SickKids list the full employment agreements of their top execu- tives on their web sites for public consumption. In Alberta hospitals, public health, mental health, and com- s not about FIPPA. What the OHA was asking us to do was so already — you can't have a bad practice. FIPPA is just another avenue. s an area we do anticipate seeing requests for after s so exposed time we're our own worst enemies because we have lots of great records in the organization that describe all the great things we're doing and this is an opportunity to think more proactively about getting it out to the public," says Evans. "Often we don't think about the public and what they should have access to. I think when the dust settles and we get rolling on a system this notion of proactive disclosure to the public will move holistically across the organization." PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY Supreme Court of Canada Counsel and Agency Services Henry S. Brown, QC Brian A. Crane, QC Guy Régimbald Graham Ragan Matthew Estabrooks Eduard J. Van Bemmel, Law Clerk munity services are organized under one umbrella organization — Alberta Health Services, the largest single health authority in Canada. Heading up its privacy office is its privacy counsel, Steven Jewell. The goal, he says, is to be clear whenever possible that a piece of information may one day be subject to a request for information. "We do look to be proactive, it very clear as a contractual term that all commercial information is subject to freedom of information and may be disclosed. There' always this tension around things like pricing information and if we're going to withhold that we have to have a very sound basis that the pricing information if disclosed would have a detrimen- tal impact on the third party and perhaps our future negotiation position with other entities," says Jewell. "I know it can make things interesting, if, for example, we're " says Jewell. "We make s going to the market to find someone to operate our pharmacies in a facility they have different costing for something like that, and sometimes we get requests for that costing and we wonder if that requester is looking at the next tendering exercise. money being directed into Alberta Health Services there has to be transparency and accountability. "The attitudes have changed from where they were 10 years ago. I don't think people in operational areas are surprised when there' Jewell says that as a public body and with large amounts of " — this is what people want. There may still be discussion about sensitivity of the information but it' anything else," says Jewell. s a request for records s an accepted fact more than decision was made to post key executive contracts on the orga- nization' encouraged Ontario's hospitals to do. "It was a step in transpar- ency and with the knowledge that sooner or later someone in the media was going to make that request," says Jewell. So while it is still early days, hospitals say they are ready for When Alberta Health Services was being formed in 2008 a s external web site — much in the way the OHA has ntitled-1 1 160 Elgin StreetSuite 2600OttawaOntarioK1P 1C3T 613-233-1781 montréalottawatorontohamiltonwaterloo regioncalgaryvancouverbeijingmoscowlondon 12-01-17 10:50 AM the requests that may challenge them, and they hope it will give the public a greater understanding of what they do. "A lot of the www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com M AY 2012 49

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