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Ministry of Health |
Treasury Board Secretariat |
MEMORANDUM TO: Stephen LeClair
Financial Accountability Officer
Financial Accountability Office of Ontario
FROM: Dr. Bob Bell
Deputy Minister
Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
Greg Orencsak
Deputy Minister
Treasury Board Secretariat
RE: 2015 Ontario Budget Health Information Request
Thank you for your letter of January 12, 2016 requesting information pertaining to health sector expense trends and medium term outlook in the 2015 Ontario Budget.
The Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) and Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHL TC) acknowledge the important role played by you and your office in providing independent analysis of the state of the Province's finances. Our Ministries have undertaken a review of potentially responsive information to respond to your list of questions and the issues you raised by your subsequent correspondence of February 23, 2016.
As you are aware, subsection 12(1) of the Financial Accountability Officer Act (FAOA) requires every ministry of the Government of Ontario and every public entity to give, upon request, any financial, economic or other information that is in its custody or under its control that you believe to be necessary to perform your duties under the FAOA.
Subsection 12(2) of the FAOA prohibits a ministry or public entity from giving you a record described under subsection 12( 1) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), unless either of the circumstances in clause 12(2)(a) or (b) of FIPPA exist. Subsection 12(1) of FIPPA creates a non-exhaustive list of records that a head shall refuse to disclose because they would reveal the substance of deliberations that have taken place, or are intended to take place in Cabinet (i.e. the Executive Council) or any of its committees (e.g. Treasury Board/Management Board of Cabinet [TB/MSC]). A record would reveal the substances of deliberations of Cabinet or its committees if the disclosure would permit the drawing of accurate inferences with respect to the substance of those deliberations.
We provided additional clarification in response to your questions and the concerns you raised in your letter of February 23, 2016 (see Appendix 1 ). Where information cannot be released because it would permit the drawing of accurate inferences with respect to the substance of deliberations in Cabinet or its committees, we endeavoured to provide available information that is responsive to your request.
Once your office has had the opportunity to review the information provided, you may find it useful to meet with our ministries' staff to provide any further clarification you may require. The primary contacts to support your work include: Phil Cooke, Director, Fiscal Oversight and Performance Branch, Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, who can be reached at (416) 327-8674, and Teuta Dodbiba, Director, Health, Social and Coordination Branch, Treasury Board Secretariat, who can be reached at (416) 326-9005.
Sincerely,
Dr. Bob Bell
Greg Orencsak
c:
Mike Weir, Assistant Deputy Minister & Chief Administrative Officer, Corporate Services Division, MOHLTC
Phil Cooke, Director, Fiscal Oversight and Performance Branch, MOHL
TC Karen Hughes, Associate Deputy Minister, Office of the Treasury Board, TBS
Maria Duran-Schneider, Assistant Deputy Minister (A), Planning and Expenditure Management Division, TBS
Teuta Dodbiba, Director, Health, Social and Coordination Branch, TBS
Scott Thompson, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Finance
Chris Giannekos, Assistant Deputy Minister, Office of the Budget, Ministry of Finance
