Metz Farms v. N.B., 2002 NBQB 394 (CanLII)

This case was heard in the New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench (Trial Division)

In order to operate hog farms, Metz Farms Ltd. and Metz Farms 2 Ltd. ("Metz") had to get operations licenses from the Province of New Brunswick. In order to get those licenses, Metz had to give the Province detailed information about its farms. The Conservation Council of New Brunswick had concerns about the environmental impacts of Metz’s operations, and so it applied to the Province of New Brunswick for some of the documents that Metz had provided during the licensing process. To do so, the Conservation Council relied on New Brunswick’s Right to Information Act. Metz challenged the application, arguing that the Province had no right to share the confidential information that Metz was forced to submit during the licensing process, and that releasing the information would harm Metz’s business interests. The Court held that Metz could have “no reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to the documents supplied to the Province,” and that the government’s licensing and regulation of enterprises like Metz’s were legitimate public interest issues.

View the Decision on CanLII: www.canlii.org/en/nb/nbqb/doc/2002/2002nbqb394/2002nbqb394.html

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