TORSTAR CORPORATION   [ Printer Version ]

Privacy Policy

 Our commitment to privacy:

Torstar Corporation respects your privacy. This Privacy Code governs the activities of Torstar Corporation, including the website www.torstar.com. For a listing of Torstar subsidiaries, please go to www.torstar.com and click on Businesses. Information about privacy codes tailored to Torstar subsidiaries is located on the relevant subsidiary websites.

Collection, use and disclosure of personal information by Torstar Corporation are governed by the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (the “Act”), and any applicable provincial legislation. This Privacy Code explains what personal information Torstar collects and how it is used. It also explains how you can ask questions, make suggestions, and complain about our privacy practices. Be aware that www.torstar.com may contain links to other websites provided and maintained exclusively by third parties not subject to this Privacy Code. Please review the privacy policies on any external websites to determine their information handling practices.

This Privacy Code is available to the public in electronic form at www.torstar.com and in paper form by writing to the Privacy Officer, Torstar Corporation, 1Yonge Street Toronto ON M5E 1P9. If you have any additional concerns or questions, we encourage you to contact us and we will address your concerns to the best of our ability. Please read this Privacy Code carefully, and check back periodically as we update it from time to time. By submitting your personal information to Torstar Corporation, you signify your agreement to the terms and conditions of this Privacy Code.

What is personal information?

Personal information is any information about an identifiable individual. Personal information does not include the name, title, business address or telephone number of an employee of an organization. Personal information about Torstar employees is not covered by the Act.

Torstar Corporation is responsible for personal information under its control. Our employees are informed about the importance of privacy and receive periodic information to update them about our Privacy Code and related policies.

What personal information do we collect, and why?

Torstar Corporation collects personal information for specific, limited purposes. Information is collected by fair and lawful means.

• If you are a shareholder, we collect your contact and share account information for the purpose of administering shareholdings.
• If you are a consultant, we collect your contact and banking information for administrative and payment purposes.
• If you are a pensioner, we collect your banking and family contact information, and your employment history, for the purpose of administering your pension.
• We generally use your personal information for the purposes of maintaining business records for reasonable periods of time and generally managing and administering our business, and meeting regulatory, legal, insurance, audit, security and processing requirements.
• Other than as permitted or required by law, purposes for the collection, use or disclosure of personal information, which are not set out in this Privacy Code, will be set out at the time of collection. You will be given a reasonable opportunity to opt-out of any additional purposes no later than the time of collection.

To whom does Torstar Corporation disclose personal information, and why?

Torstar Corporation may disclose your personal information under the following circumstances:

• Torstar Corporation may transfer your personal information to service providers acting on its behalf in order to perform processing and other specialized services, for example, pension management, audit, or secure offsite storage.
• When Torstar Corporation needs to disclose your personal information to third parties, for example, if we need to comply with applicable laws and lawful governmental requests, other legal and regulatory authorities and other legal reasons.
• Torstar Corporation may disclose your personal information to parties connected with the contemplated or actual financing, insuring, sale, assignment or other disposal of all or part of our business or assets, including for the purposes of determining whether to proceed or continue with such transaction or business relationship or fulfilling any records or other reporting requirements to such parties. We will require such parties to treat your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Code and to use and disclose it only for the purposes for which it was collected.
• Shareholder information may also be shared with or collected directly by Torstar Corporation’s transfer agent.

Consent:

Except as set out in this section, Torstar Corporation obtains your express opt-in consent to use or disclose sensitive personal information. Generally, by providing us with your personal information, we will assume that you consent to our collection, use and disclosure of such information for the purposes identified or described in this Privacy Code, if applicable, or otherwise at the time of collection. We reserve the right to use and disclose your personal information without consent where required or permitted by law, for example, if we have reasonable grounds to believe the information could be useful when investigating a contravention of a federal, provincial or foreign law, in order to protect or defend our legal interests, or to comply with applicable laws and lawful governmental requests.

Safeguards:

Torstar Corporation maintains personal information in a combination of paper and electronic files. We take technical, contractual, administrative and physical security measures to protect your personal information. Please be aware that email is not a secure medium, and any personal information you send to us by email could be intercepted. If your communication is sensitive, you should not send it electronically unless the email is encrypted or your browser indicates that the access to our website is secure.

How to access and correct your personal information:

You may write to Torstar’s Privacy Officer with your request and we may provide you with access or make changes upon receipt of appropriate evidence. We will give you access to the information we retain about you within a reasonable time, upon written request, satisfactory identification and proof of entitlement. In some cases, we may not provide access to personal information in our possession or control. If we deny your request, we will advise you in writing of the reason for the refusal and you may challenge our decision.

How to challenge our privacy practices:

Torstar Corporation encourages you to contact us with any questions or concerns you have about your privacy or this Privacy Code. If you have a question concerning Torstar’s Privacy Code, would like a copy, or if you have a complaint, please write to the Privacy Officer at:

Privacy Officer
Torstar Corporation
One Yonge Street, 6th floor
Toronto ON
M5E 1P9
Fax: (416) 869-4183

This Privacy Code was last updated on December 1, 2004

CURRENT ACTIVITY (TS.B)