EDMONTON — The Alberta government has been ordered by a judge to not release the names and salaries of its Crown prosecutors pending a full hearing into the matter.
Justice Doreen Sulyma of Court of Queen’s Bench agreed Thursday with an injunction application that said releasing that kind of information to the public could put prosecutors at further risk of violence or identity theft.
“I do see a difference between (the release of) generic information versus the very personal information that is set to be published (by the province),” Sulyma told the lawyers at the injunction hearing.
“The plaintiff has identified people who might do her harm and has in doing so identified a risk should this publication occur.”
No date has been set to hear the merits of the case.
The injunction was brought forward by a Crown prosecutor, whose name is currently under a publication ban, one day before Premier Alison Redford’s government was to place online the names and salary details of every government employee who makes $100,000 a year or more.
The salary details follow up on a promise made last month by Redford after her office was harshly criticized for refusing an order from the privacy commissioner to disclose the severance paid to Redford’s former chief of staff, Stephen Carter.
Carter later announced on Twitter he received $130,000 severance after being on the job for six months, ending in 2012.