OTTAWA — The Federal Court ruled Friday that the taxpayer-funded CBC must hand over its records to Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault.
The fight over access to the documents has dragged on since 2007, when the public broadcaster first resisted being included under Section 68.1 of the Access to Information Act.
Many of the requests for information about the CBC were launched by Quebec Media Inc. (QMI) Agency, which operates of the Sun chain of newspapers and websites.
QMI had requested information on such matters as the contest to select a new theme song for Hockey Night in Canada, hospitality expenses during royal visits and documents related to the change of command at CBC between former president Robert Rabinovitch and Hubert Lacroix, the network's current top boss.
"It confirms the importance of my role as the first level of review," Legault said in a statement. "To fulfil my mandate and my responsibility to protect the rights of requesters, I must have authority to examine records that are the subject of complaints."
The judgment said that investigations by the information commissioner are confidential and providing information to Legault does not constitute public disclosure.
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