"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.
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