N.S. Supreme Court blocks release of financial data for nursing homes

Nova Scotia's health department appears to be on the losing side in a legal fight to release some financial information to the public.

The Department of Health and Wellness wanted to release how money is allocated to nursing homes across Nova Scotia, but the operator of many of those homes, Shannex Inc., opposed that.

Lawyers forShannexhad argued that those figures could put the firm at a competitive disadvantage when it prepares future bids to build and operate nursing homes in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

And in a decision released Wednesday, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court agreed.

"Release of the information sought could allow a competitor to effect calculations to determine Shannex's budgeted costsand therefore allow Shannex to be undercut at future bidding competitions," Justice Denise Boudreau wrote in her decision.

The request for the release of the financial information came from an unidentified member of the public in the form of a freedom of information request. Thatrequest had been for annual operations funding and budget summaries for nursing homes, including per diem ratesfrom 2011 to April2014.