This article was published in the Chronicle Herald on January 24, 2017, you can find a you can find the agreement Irving Shipbuilding signed with the Nova Scotia Government HERE

In March 2012, Jim Irving stood on an outdoor stage in his shipyard and remarked to an assembled audience that Premier Darrell Dexter told him “ok let’s give it everything we’ve got, don’t hold back, because we want to win.” Well, it appears the province didn’t “hold back.” It agreed to give $304 million to Irving Shipbuilding in grants and loans. To this day, it is the largest corporate giveaway in the province’s history.  

In the following months and years the government continued to talk up the benefits of the deal, while questions about the specifics of the agreement remained unanswered. How would the Irvings earn “loan forgiveness?” What interest rates would be charged on the loans? And how big were the loan guarantees? Answers were not forthcoming, and it was not for lack of trying. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation and others turned to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to get the full details of the agreement.

In May 2012, the government swatted away the request with a one-page letter saying they wouldn’t be releasing any details. But after the CTF publically pressed the issue, opposition parties (including McNeil’s Liberals) and others forced the minister to answer for his department’s flat refusal. The NDP government relented and said they would review the previous rejection.

In the fall of 2012, some information previously held back was released to the CTF. However, information pertaining to the financial aspects of the deal was still excluded. The Department of Economic Development at the time said that they released as much information as possible under the freedom of information law.

This explanation was proven bogus.

A few months later, Paul MacLeod, then a reporter with the Chronicle Herald, reported on previously undisclosed financial information related to the loan forgiveness  -- the very information the government claimed they couldn’t release. The government aided the release of that information by providing an official to comment on the disclosure.

Finally, in the fall of 2016, four years after the CTF filed an appeal over the lack of disclosure, Nova Scotia’s Information and Protection of Privacy Commissioner sided with the CTF and said in a ruling that "none of the reasons for withholding information were established”, and she recommended full disclosure. The government complied.

Thanks to this disclosure and other information leaking out like a slow drip over the years we can now answer that the Irvings expect to employ an average of 1,835 “contract and overhead” employees to get their full loan forgiveness by 2035, the interest rates are 4.5% and the loan guarantee is $200 million but it will go unused.

The Commissioners ruling is a victory for every taxpayer of Nova Scotia and will be applied to future FOI appeals. That means that if the government tries to withhold information in other cases of corporate welfare like this one with the Irvings, this ruling will compel them to release that information.

Is the freedom of information act perfect? No. It needs reforms, but the case of Irving Shipbuilding proves that it’s important and necessary instrument for a strong and vigorous public debate.

Kevin Lacey is the Atlantic Canada Director with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation