Premier and cabinet ministers will be exempt from FOI requests under new legislation

At Queen's Park, critics accuse Premier Doug Ford's government of weakening freedom of information laws and hiding cabinet documents from public scrutiny.

The Ontario government says it will be introducing legislation to keep secret documents from the premier’s office as well as the offices of his cabinet ministers.

Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement Stephen Crawford announced the move Friday morning as part of a package of changes he said would modernize Ontario’s cyber security and privacy framework to bring it inline with other jurisdictions.

“We’re following the Westminster tradition of cabinet; confidentiality,” Crawford said.

He said the move would exclude documents from the offices of the premier, his cabinet ministers and parliamentary assistants from Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.

It would also apply retroactively to exclude past documents.

“This legislation… will keep confident cabinet confidentiality, so any interactions of the Executive Council members amongst themselves will be confidential, and I think that’s in the best interest of the people, so that we can have candid conversations, important discussions, without any potential blowback,” Crawford said.

Directions from ministers’ offices to the public service would still be subject to FOI requests.

Opposition slams move

Journalists, opposition parties and members of the public regularly file Freedom of Information requests to shed more light on government decision making.

Opposition parties roundly condemned the move at Queen’s Park Friday.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles called it “outrageous” and said there was no justification for the decision.

“There is no reason for this government to change these laws, other than that they are actually trying to hide from the public,” she said.

Stiles added that people have a right to know what their government is doing and how decisions are made.

“So if you’re suddenly changing the laws to hide information that up to now, for many, many generations has been subject to Freedom of Information laws, what are you trying to hide?” she said.

Liberal MPP Stephanie Smyth, who serves as ethics, integrity and accountability critic for the Ontario Liberals, said she was “completely shocked” when she saw the news.

“To see that this government is moving to take that check and balance away – Freedom of Information, remember, that’s what it’s called – is deeply concerning,” Smyth said.

Green Party Leader Mark Schreiner said Ford is changing the rules to make it easier to hide the truth.

“We need more honesty, accountability and transparency from this government, not less,” Schreiner said. “Ontarians have a right to know how decisions are being made in their own government.”

Crawford said the new legislation will bring Ontario in line with most other jurisdictions in Canada, as well as the federal government.

However federal Information commissioner Caroline Maynard recently told a House of Commons committee that documents from the offices of the prime minister and other cabinet members should be subject to federal Access to Information requests.

In an interview with CTV News Toronto, Duff Conacher with Democracy Watch said the proposed changes will make cabinet ministers’ decisions and actions more secretive and lead to abuses of power.

“The fact that other provinces and the federal government have excessive secrecy loopholes that deny the public’s right to know does not justify the Ford government adding an excessive secrecy loophole and layer of secrecy,” Conacher said.

Ontario’s Information and privacy commissioner, Patricia Kosseim, also slammed the announcement.

“Freedom of information laws exist to provide Ontarians with vital information about how government decisions are made, on what basis, who influenced them, and whether the public interest is being served,” Kosseim said in a statement.

“If records about government business can be shielded from scrutiny simply because they sit in a minister’s office, on a staffer’s device, or within a political account, public accountability is eviscerated.”

Premier’s phone records sought in court case

The Ford government’s new legislation follows the loss of a court battle over access to Premier Doug Ford’s phone records.

A divisional court ruled in January that Ford must release logs of government-related calls made on his personal cellphone.

The case followed a Freedom of Information Request filed by Global News and supported by the Information and Privacy Commissioner.

The government said it would appeal the decision.

Paul Champ, one of the lawyers who fought to have the records made public, told CTV News Toronto that the government’s legislation, if applied retroactively, would effectively kill the case.

He noted it was only learned that the premier was using his personal cellphone for government business when an FOI of his government-issued cellphone revealed no incoming or outgoing calls for a three-month period.

“When there was a request for then his personal cell phone, he hid behind the fact of his personal device to say, ‘no, I’m not going to disclose these records. These are my personal records,’” Champ said.

He said multiple cases of government misspending and mismanagement at all levels of government have only been unearthed through FOI requests.

“Whether it’s federally with SNC Lavalin or the sponsorship scandal, or provincially, the Green Belt scandal here that remains ongoing in Ontario, Freedom of Information laws were key in exposing those issues for the public,” Champ said.

“I think that’s why everyone Ontario should be very concerned about the state of our Freedom of Information laws.”

With files from Siobhan Morris and The Canadian Press