Monday, March 15, 2010

On protected information

There seems to be general agreement that somebody should offer some actual explanation for the fact that the serious charges against Rahim Jaffer were dropped never to be dealt with again. But an important part of the picture seems to have been ignored so far - particularly by the Con spokesflacks who are pointing solely toward the McGuinty government.

As best I can tell from the facts reported so far, there's little prospect that the Attorney General could offer anything approaching a substantive explanation without revealing information about what happened between Jaffer and the police who arrested him. But information about Jaffer's place in the exchange would be considered his "personal information" - which the Attorney General is generally prohibited from disclosing without Jaffer's consent.

Now, there are some possible exceptions to that rule, based on either specific circumstances where disclosure is permitted or a public interest override. And it's conceivable that the province could provide at least a partial explanation without releasing details specific to Jaffer personally.

But it's Jaffer alone who can provide the authorization needed to move the province's ability to speak openly about the case out of a legal grey area. And until he's done so, I can't particularly blame the Attorney General for being careful as to what gets made public.

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