26(1)The head of a public body may refuse to disclose information to an applicant if disclosure could reasonably be expected to reveal
(a)
advice, opinions, proposals or recommendations developed by or for the public body or a Minister of the Crown,
(b)
positions, plans, procedures, criteria or instructions developed for the purpose of contractual or other negotiations by or on behalf of the Province of New Brunswick or the public body, or considerations that relate to those negotiations,
(c)
plans relating to the management of personnel or the administration of the public body that have not yet been implemented,
(d)
the content of draft legislation or regulations and orders of Ministers of the Crown or the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, or
(e)
information, including the proposed plans, policies or projects of a public body, the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to result in disclosure of a pending policy or budgetary decision.
26(2)Subsection (1) does not apply if the information
(a)
is in a record that is more than 20 years old,
(b)
is an instruction or guideline issued to officers or employees of the public body,
(c)
is a substantive rule or statement of policy that has been adopted by the public body for the purpose of interpreting an Act of the Legislature or administering a program or activity of the public body,
(d)
is the result of an environmental test conducted by or for the public body,
(e)
is a statement of the reasons for a decision made in the exercise of a quasi-judicial function or a discretionary power that affects the applicant,
(f)
is the result of background research of a scientific or technical nature undertaken in connection with the formulation of a policy proposal,
(g)
is a statistical study,
(h)
is a record that is part of a quantitative or qualitative research study of public opinion, or
(i)
is a final report or final audit on the performance or efficiency of the public body or of any of its programs or policies, except where the information is a report or appraisal of the performance of an individual who is or was an officer or employee of the public body.
26(3)For the purpose of paragraph (2)(f), background research of a technical nature does not include economic or financial research undertaken in connection with the formulation of a tax policy or other economic policy of the public body.
26(1)The head of a public body may refuse to disclose information to an applicant if disclosure could reasonably be expected to reveal
(a)
advice, opinions, proposals or recommendations developed by or for the public body or a Minister of the Crown,
(b)
positions, plans, procedures, criteria or instructions developed for the purpose of contractual or other negotiations by or on behalf of the Province of New Brunswick or the public body, or considerations that relate to those negotiations,
(c)
plans relating to the management of personnel or the administration of the public body that have not yet been implemented,
(d)
the content of draft legislation or regulations and orders of Ministers of the Crown or the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, or
(e)
information, including the proposed plans, policies or projects of a public body, the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to result in disclosure of a pending policy or budgetary decision.
26(2)Subsection (1) does not apply if the information
(a)
is in a record that is more than 20 years old,
(b)
is an instruction or guideline issued to officers or employees of the public body,
(c)
is a substantive rule or statement of policy that has been adopted by the public body for the purpose of interpreting an Act of the Legislature or administering a program or activity of the public body,
(d)
is the result of an environmental test conducted by or for the public body,
(e)
is a statement of the reasons for a decision made in the exercise of a quasi-judicial function or a discretionary power that affects the applicant,
(f)
is the result of background research of a scientific or technical nature undertaken in connection with the formulation of a policy proposal,
(g)
is a statistical study,
(h)
is a record that is part of a quantitative or qualitative research study of public opinion, or
(i)
is a final report or final audit on the performance or efficiency of the public body or of any of its programs or policies, except where the information is a report or appraisal of the performance of an individual who is or was an officer or employee of the public body.
26(3)For the purpose of paragraph (2)(f), background research of a technical nature does not include economic or financial research undertaken in connection with the formulation of a tax policy or other economic policy of the public body.