AJAs 2017 Finalists
Attachments
| Slug/Label | Growlers lockout and payour |
|---|---|
| Date Aired or Published | 2021-2024 |
| Media outlet where first aired or published: | The Telegram |
| Name of Program: | |
| If co-produced, list partner: | |
| Location: | St. John's, NL |
| List awards, grants: | |
| Running time (TV/Radio): | |
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Short explanation of the story and how it developed: In late 2021 the City of St. John's locked out Deacon Sports and Entertainment, the owners of the Newfoundland Growlers hockey team, from what was then called Mile One Centre, a stadium in the city. The city, in a highly publicized press conference, said there was a toxic workplace and in the interests of making sure staff were safe they had locked out the team and its ownership. Following that there was a back and forth in the media between the city and Deacon, which each side alleging the other was in the wrong. The matter went to mediation and the team was allowed back inside the arena. Both sides refused to say what agreement had been reached, citing confidentiality. In early 2023 I fled an access to information request to St. John's Sports and Entertainment (SJSE), the wholly owned subsidiary of the city that oversees the arena, for their financial statement going back to 2021. SJSE provided them, but redacted some information, saying it was related to potential future litigation that may arise from the lockout. I appealed this to the privacy commissioner, stating it was public money spent by a public body and was therefor in the public interest. I cited a section of the access to information laws in NL that provide a public interest override in cases where information could legitimately be refused under the legislation. The privacy commissioner agreed with me, ordering the city to give me the information. The city refused and appealed the privacy commissioners ruling to the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador. At the time, SaltWire was given the opportunity to have legal representation in the case but the company declined my request, citing associated costs. Nonetheless, I did offer to testify on behalf of the privacy commissioner as the originating applicant. I did testify for a short period, simply repeating my assertation that public money spent by a public body should be a matter of public record and the city should be compelled to release the information. The judge agreed with me and the privacy commissioner, ordering the city to release the numbers. He dismissed the city argument that releasing the information would harm the financial interests of the city, could be used against them in future litigation, and was subject to solicitor client privilege. It is the first time since access to information laws were brought into law in NL that the public interest override had been successfully applied and the first time the act trumped a solicitor-client privilege argument, according to the lawyer for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. There are far more than three stories I wrote covering this, but I chose the most pertinent ones for the purpose of this submission. |
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Resources of the newsroom (money and time) available to complete the story: At that time the Telegram newsroom consisted of about 8-9 journalists who each had to submit stories daily. I was given no help on this outside of being given the time to attend court proceedings, testify, and write the stories. Ideally the company would have submissions on behalf of the public interest but it didn't want to spend that money on a lawyer. |
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