Doug Ford says provincial documents have to be kept secret because of China
Some wonder if it’s actually to prevent his cellphone records from being released
Last week, the provincial government announced disturbing new legislation that would make records from the offices of the premier and his cabinet exempt from Freedom of Information laws.
Though Stephen Crawford, Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement, said the change was meant to improve privacy and cybersecurity, backlash was understandably swift.
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“There is no reason for this government to change these laws, other than that they are actually trying to hide from the public,” said Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles. “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?”
Some have questioned whether the legislation is meant to prevent Premier Doug Ford from having to release his cellphone records after being ordered to do so by the province’s Information and Privacy Commission. The premier was found to have used his personal phone to have conversations about provincial issues, potentially including the Greenbelt, which weren’t recorded in official call logs.
Yesterday, Ford defended the legislation, insisting that his attempts to do away with transparency had nothing to do with his cellphone and were actually because of threats from China. “We’ve got to protect ourselves against the Communist Chinese that are infiltrating our country—Canada, the US, everything—into our education system, into high tech companies. That’s who we have to protect from. So it’s serious. It’s absolutely serious,” he said.
“These are ridiculous excuses,” Stiles said in a separate response. “The premier isn’t worried about China. He is worried about what the people of Ontario will see when his phone records are released.”
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
