Why does the province want to keep documents from Doug Ford’s office a secret?
“There is no reason for this government to change these laws, other than that they are actually trying to hide from the public,” NDP leader Marit Stiles said in response to new legislation
The Ontario government has announced shocking new legislation that will allow the province to keep documents from Premier Doug Ford’s office and the offices of cabinet ministers a secret from the public. These documents will no longer be accessible by Freedom of Information requests.
Past documents will also be included in the new legislation, which will be applied retroactively.
Freedom of Information requests are regularly filed by journalists, members of the public and politicians from other political parties, as a way to more transparently understand government policy and consequential decision-making.
Related: Doug Ford doesn’t want any journalists at the Ontario PC Party Convention
Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement Stephen Crawford said today that the purpose of this legislation is to improve privacy and cybersecurity.
“I think that’s in the best interest of the people, so that we can have candid conversations, important discussions, without any potential blowback,” he said, per CP24. A media release published by the province said that “the updated framework will close longstanding gaps, strengthen cybersecurity, reduce red tape and better protect confidentiality.”
Ontario’s NDP leader Marit Stiles opposed the Ford government’s announcement.
“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 today at Queen’s Park, arguing that the public has a right to governmental transparency. “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?”
Related: A Niagara politician resigned this week over allegedly owning Mein Kampf
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.
