A recent Federal Court decision highlights the risks to privacy that could flow from unrestrained access by government to data in the hands of private sector companies. It also demonstrates the importance of judicial oversight in ensuring transparency and the protection of privacy.
The Income Tax Act (ITA) gives the Minister of National Revenue (MNR) the power to seek information held by third parties where it is relevant to the administration of the income tax regime. However, where the information sought is about unnamed persons, the law requires judicial oversight. A judge of the Federal Court must review and approve the information “requirement”. Just such a matter arose in Canada (Minister of National Revenue) v. Hydro-Québec. The MNR sought information from Hydro-Québec, the province’s electrical utility, about a large number of its business customers. Only a few classes of customers, such as heavy industries that consumed very large amounts of electricity were excluded. Hydro itself did not object to the request and was prepared to fulfil it if ordered to do so by the Federal Court. The request was considered by Justice Roy who noted that because the information was about unnamed and therefore unrepresented persons, it was “up to the Court to consider their interests.” (at para 5)
Under s. 231.2(3) of the ITA, before ordering the disclosure of information about unnamed persons, a must be satisfied that:
(a) the person or group is ascertainable; and
(b) the requirement is made to verify compliance by the person or persons with any duty or obligation under this Act.
The information sought from Hydro in digital format included customer names, business numbers, full billing addresses, addresses of each place where electricity is consumed, telephone numbers associated with the account, billing start dates, and, if applicable, end dates, and any late payment notices sent to the customer.
Justice Roy noted that no information had been provided to the court to indicate whether the MNR had any suspicions about the tax compliance of business customers of Hydro-Quebec. Nor was there much detail about what the MNR planned to do with the information. The documents provided by the MNR, as summarized by the Court, stated that the MNR was “looking to identify those who seem to be carrying on a business but failed to file all the required income tax returns.” (at para 14) However, Justice Roy noted that there were clearly also plans to share the information with other groups at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). These groups would use the information to determine “whether the individuals and companies complied with their obligations under the ITA and the ETA”. (at para 14)
Justice Roy was sympathetic to the need of government to have powerful means of enforcing tax laws that depend upon self-reporting of income. However, he found that what the MNR was attempting to do under s. 231.2 went too far. He ruled that the words used in that provision had to be interpreted in light of “the right of everyone to be left alone by the state”. (at para 28) He observed that it is clear from the wording of the Act that “Parliament wanted to limit the scope of the Minister’s powers, extensive as they are.” (at para 68)
Justice Roy carefully reviewed past jurisprudence interpreting s. 231.2(3). He noted that the section has always received a strict interpretation by judges. In past cases where orders had been issued, the groups of unnamed persons about whom information was sought were clearly ascertainable, and the information sought was ‘directly related to these taxpayers’ tax status because it is financial in nature.” (at para 63) In the present case, he found that the group was not ascertainable, and the information sought “has nothing to do with tax-status.” (at para 63)
In his view, the aim of the request was to determine the identity of business customers of Hydro-Québec. The information was not sought in relation to a good faith audit, and with a proper factual basis. Because it was a fishing expedition meant to determine who might suitably be audited, the group of individuals identified by Hydro-Québec could not be considered “ascertainable”, as was required by the law. Justice Roy noted that no information was provided to demonstrate what “business customer” meant. He observed that “the Minister would render the concept of “ascertainable group” meaningless if, in the context of the ITA, she may claim that any group is an ascertainable group.” (at para 78) He opined that giving such broad meaning to “ascertainable” could be an abuse that would lead to violations of privacy by the state.
Justice Roy also found that the second condition of s. 231.2(3) was not met. Section 231.2(3)(b) required that the information be sought in order “to verify compliance by the person or persons in the group with any duty or obligation under this Act.” He observed that the MNR was seeking an interpretation of this provision that would amount to: “Any information the Minister may consider directly or indirectly useful”. (at para 80) Justice Roy favoured a much more restrictive interpretation, limiting it to information that could “shed light on compliance with the Act.” (at para 80) He found that “the knowledge of who has a business account with Hydro-Québec does not meet the requirement of a more direct connection between the information and documents and compliance with the Act.” (at para 80)
The MNR had argued that if the two conditions of s. 231.2(3) were met, then a judge was required to issue the authorization. Because Justice Roy found the two conditions were not met, the argument was moot. Nevertheless, he noted that even if he had found the conditions to be met, he would still have had the discretion to deny the authorization if to grant it would harm the public interest. In this case, there would be a considerable invasion of privacy “given the number of people indiscriminately included in the requirement for which authorization of the Court is being sought. (at para 88) He also found that the fact that digital data was sought increased the general risk of harm. He observed that “the applicant chose not to restrict the use she could make of the large quantity of information she received” (at para 91) and that it was clearly planned that the information would be shared within the CRA. Justice Roy concluded that even if he erred in his interpretation of the criteria in s. 231.2(3), and these criteria had to be given a broad meaning, he would still not have granted the authorization on the basis that “judicial intervention is required to prevent such an invasion of the privacy of many people in Quebec.” (at para 96) Such intervention would particularly be required where “the fishing expedition is of unprecedented magnitude and the information being sought is far from serving to verify compliance with the Act.” (at para 96)
This is a strong decision which clearly protects the public interest. It serves to highlight the privacy risks in an era where both private and public sectors amass vast quantities of personal information in digital form. Although the ITA provides a framework to ensure judicial oversight in order to limit potential abuses, there are still far too many other contexts where information flows freely and where there may be insufficient oversight, transparency or accountability.