"Shocking announcement."

"A recipe for a more corrupt government."

A "bullshit" move that will "gut public trust."

That was just some of the reaction to today's sudden news that the Ford government plans to overhaul the province’s freedom-of-information law to deny the public access to documents held by the offices of the premier and his ministers, and their parliamentary assistants and staff.

The change would undo more than 35 years of lawful access to those records — and apply retroactively, which means it would impact all in-process requests, including FOIs for documents related the Greenbelt scandal, the Skills Development Fund controversy and Ford's personal cellphone records.

In a statement released late this afternoon, Patricia Kosseim, Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner, called on the government to withdraw the proposed changes.

“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. “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.”

Our guest on tonight's episode of Closer Look is Jessica Smith Cross, editor-in-chief of The Trillium, Village Media's news source at Queen's Park.

Premier Doug Ford says the province will take over the City of Toronto’s stake in Billy Bishop Airport, clearing the path for larger planes on the island.

“This is a crown jewel,” Ford said of Billy Bishop. “We need this. We need this desperately.”

Lots of details still need to be ironed out, but Ford insists that jets are coming "one way or another."

Buckle your seat belts.

Joining us on tonight's Closer Look podcast to talk about Ford's plan is Aidan Chamandy, one of our reporters at TorontoToday.

Welcome to a special road-trip edition of Village Media's Closer Look podcast.

On tonight's episode, we catch up with members of the provincial NDP who've spent some quality time over the past week driving along Northern Ontario highways.

The MPPs are on a campaign-style tour, meeting with local residents and hearing ideas about how to improve the state of Ontario's northern highways.

Joining us from their car is Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles and John Vanthof, who represents the riding of Timiskaming-Cochrane.

The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) has previously called on the federal and provincial governments to invest in the so-called 2+1 model for widening highways.

You can learn more about that HERE.