The Ford government will fast-track its controversial changes to freedom of information laws, bypassing public hearings over its plan to shield the premier, his cabinet and their staff from scrutiny.
Weeks after tabling the budget, with only five bills introduced since MPPs returned from their extended winter break, the government has decided to speed its central financial plan and two other pieces of legislation past the traditional process.
Usually, bills go to a committee where members of the public and advocacy groups can weigh in during broadcast discussions, with time set aside for the opposition and government.
House leader Steve Clark, however, will again skip that process for several pieces of legislation, most notably the budget, which was written to include major changes to freedom of information laws in Ontario.
The changes in the budget — which the government has claimed are simply about improving outdated legislation — will exclude the premier, his cabinet ministers, parliamentary assistants and all their staff from freedom of information requests.
The budget was tabled shortly after a court concluded that Premier Doug Ford was using his personal phone to conduct government business and ruled that some of those records should be public.
That ruling sided with Global News in a years-long transparency battle to understand who the premier speaks through a personal device critics have said he uses to avoid accountability.
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Bills receive first reading and second reading and are then generally sent to committee. The budget finished its second reading and was referred to committee more than two weeks ago on April 2, before remaining in limbo.
As recently as Thursday morning, Clark said he hadn’t decided if he would allow the bill to pass through the normal process.
“It’s to be determined,” he told Global News after question period.
“I’m working with the opposition parties, that’s what house leaders do…. My intention is to allow debate to take place for all the bills in the house, as you know, but again with committee. I’ve got a bill that’s in committee, I want to see how opposition is, I’ve made no decisions.”
Critics say the government is fast-tracking the bill despite a relatively light legislative agenda to avoid scrutiny.
“Doug Ford is going to great lengths to hide his cell phone records,” Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles, who wrote to Clark asking for committee hearings, said in a statement.
“The people have a right to know how their government spends their hard-earned tax dollars. These changes will mean less transparency and more cover for this government’s shady business.”
Ontario Liberal Leader John Fraser echoed the concerns.
“When a bill, budget or otherwise, rewrites how people, journalists, and elected officials can access information, it deserves full scrutiny: public hearings, clause-by-clause review, and the chance to amend it,” he said in a statement.
The Global News freedom of information request at the heart of the transparency battle over Ford’s personal phone covered the week in November 2022 when the government decided to remove land from the Greenbelt, as well as the end of a wildcat education worker strike.
Fraser suggested that bypassing debate and changing the law was motivated by the call or text logs from that week.
“Something really bad was on Doug Ford’s phone the week he announced he was opening up the Greenbelt,” he said.
“That is what all of these freedom of information changes are about, and why the government does not want this bill to go to committee. It’s about preventing the people of Ontario from seeing whatever was on his phone in November 2022.”
The transparency clampdown has also proved unpopular with the public, as successive polls have shown a majority oppose the changes.
The province’s transparency watchdog has also decried the changes, which she said would make Ontario more secretive than any other part of the country and raise massive cyber and data risks.
A spokesperson for the minister of finance said the bill had received nine hours of debate in the house, which is part of the traditional process.
“We will continue to ensure that the opposition members have ample time to openly debate the Bill on behalf of their constituents,” they wrote in a statement.
The budget bill also includes ticket-capping rules and changes to conservation authorities.
— with a file from The Canadian Press
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