How much should the public be able to see inside the government? Ontario’s latest budget bill, passed last week, is putting that question front and centre.
The spring budget, Bill 97, changes freedom of information laws so that citizens can no longer use freedom of information requests to get records from the premier’s or cabinet ministers’ offices, even if those records are about government decisions. That rule also applies to past records.
Individuals can still request documents from government ministries, but the new rules cut off access to the political offices where many key decisions are discussed and shaped.
The move is being condemned by Ontario’s opposition parties and other critics as a violation by the Ford government of the transparency and accountability public officials are expected to uphold.
Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates, whose riding includes Niagara-on-the-Lake, was at an April 25 protest in St. Catharines of people frustrated with Premier Doug Ford’s government, including this latest move. He said the protest drew hundreds.
“It makes no sense to me,” said Gates of the new freedom of information rules, adding Bill 97 skipped hearings, public consultation and committee stage review.
“It’s not good when the premier is utilizing his powers to not consult with municipalities and the residents of Ontario,” he said.
Freedom of information requests are formal requests that let the public ask the government for records, like emails, reports or internal documents. They are a key tool used by the public, media and opposition parties to access government records and scrutinize decisions.
“It’s a way for the opposition, whether it’s NDP, the Liberals or Independent, to hold the government accountable,” Gates said.
Request can still be made under new rules, but the changes affect what information can be obtained through them.
Gates is pointing to the Greenbelt scandal as the clearest example of why access to government records matters. And why he’s raising concerns about changes included in Bill 97.
The scandal involved the Ford government’s move in 2022 to remove 7,400 acres of land from the Greenbelt reserve, environmentall protected lands in the Golden Horseshoe region.
Freedom of information requests allowed opposition parties and news organizations to obtain records that shed light on how Ford government officials and staffers took measures to conceal its preferential treatment of land developers looking to build housing in the Greenbelt.
“When they were going to attack the Greenbelt and they were going to put housing on the Greenbelt, the residents of Niagara-on-the-Lake stood up and said, ‘No, we want our Greenbelt protected,’” Gates said.
“They were able to convince the government to not develop on the Greenbelt and retract on it.”
Gates said access to government records play a role in bringing decisions like that to light and could be more limited under the bill.
“It’s not just the Greenbelt,” he said.
The changes come amid a broader debate over access to Premier Doug Ford’s personal cellphone records. The premier shares his personal cellphone number with the public and uses his cellphone to conduct government business.
“He’s actually said it’s about his cellphone and he defends it in question periods all the time,” Gates said, noting that he “obviously has something on that cell phone that he doesn’t want anybody to know.”
“Instead of giving up his cellphone, he decided to come forward with a freedom of information bill, Bill 97, that had other things in it, and is now saying, ‘I don’t have to give it up,’ because he changed the law.”
He also criticized how the legislation moved through Queen’s Park, saying debate stretched close to midnight on April 22 and the bill was passed the following day, April 23.
“They just wanted to get it done and make sure that people never get an opportunity to get to his cellphone,” Gates said.
Reversing the law will be difficult under a majority government, he said.
“They’re going to vote for whatever they see is their agenda.”
To remove what Gates described as a government not listening to residents and attacking democracy, residents must “vote them out.”
“And put in a government that will listen to the residents of Niagara-on-the-Lake.”
