The Ontario government has fast-tracked its budget bill, which includes changes to the province's freedom-of-information laws that will shield Premier Doug Ford's cellphone records from the public.
The bill passed Thursday after a late-night session at Queen's Park the previous day that sped up the legislation and bypassed public hearings. While Progressive Conservative MPPs supported the bill, opposition members voted no and chanted 'FOI,' for freedom of information.
The new access regime means the Premier's Office, as well as cabinet ministers and parliamentary assistants, will no longer be subject to freedom-of-information requests and will be able to keep documents and e-mails about their decision-making secret. It also means that the Premier's cellphone records, which the government has been fighting in court to keep private, will remain shielded from the public.
The government has argued that the new information law more closely aligns with other jurisdictions, including the federal government, and that Mr. Ford regularly communicates with the public on his cellphone and that those people expect discretion. The Premier has said he wants to be judged on his final decisions, not the process.
However, the province's current freedom-of-information rules already include broad exemptions for cabinet discussions and for the personal, confidential information of individuals. Experts have warned that Ontario's new law is even more restrictive than other places, because it applies retroactively and keeps documents secret indefinitely. The federal law allows for certain documents from ministers' offices to be released.
The budget bill includes a small-business tax cut, an expanded HST rebate on new homes and the capping of resale ticket prices. Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy on Thursday said the government consulted widely on its budget, which includes investments in health care and transit, but acknowledged to reporters that no constituents asked him to restrict FOI laws. He repeated his government's assertion that 95 per cent of information requests will still be accessible to the public.
'You know what I'm proud of? That this is a government that's moving the province forward, that is listening to the people of Ontario,' he told reporters. 'People of Ontario want us to get on. They want us to stop talking about things and get on with building the economy in a time that we're under threat economically around the globe and with tariffs.'
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said her government, if elected, would reinstate the previous FOI laws, and accused Mr. Ford of trying to skirt a court order to release his phone records. 'He talks a big game about how all he's doing for the people of Ontario, about his phone and how many calls he takes, but at the end of the day, he just passed a law to protect himself from having to be clean and clear with the people of Ontario,' Ms. Stiles said.
The Liberals also criticized the changes and said they would bring forward a motion when the legislature returns after a week-long break to force a vote specifically on the information law. Interim Ontario Liberal Leader John Fraser also called on Mr. Ford to apologize to Toronto MPP Stephanie Smyth, a former anchor for news channel CP24. During Question Period on Thursday, Ms. Smyth said the Premier is trying to avoid transparency by amending the freedom-of-information laws. 'Why does this Premier, who claims to be accountable, make it so hard to hold him accountable?' Ms. Smyth said.
In response, the Premier said Ms. Smyth only became a politician 'because CP24 didn't want her any more.' 'That's why she's down here. And she was just a reporter for the Liberal agenda, NDP agenda, when she was doing interviews,' he said. 'That is the facts, that is the truth. It hurts, doesn't it?'
Ms. Smyth later told reporters that Mr. Ford's behaviour is beneath the Office of the Premier, 'not to mention Trumpian,' referring to U.S. President Donald Trump. 'You shouldn't talk to anybody that way,' she said.
