Ontario Premier Doug Ford wants to change the rules around access to Freedom of Information.
New legislation would exempt the premier and cabinet ministers from Freedom of Information requests.
The province said the changes would modernize cybersecurity and privacy rules to bring them into line with other provinces as well as the federal government, but critics are condemning the move.
Ontario’s Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement, Stephen Crawford, announced the changes, saying they would exclude documents from the premier's offices, his cabinet ministers and parliamentary assistants.
"And I think that’s in the best interests of the people so that we can have candid conversations — important discussions — without any potential blowback," Crawford said.
Ford defended the proposed legislation, saying Ontario is only following what the federal government in Ottawa is doing.
"Ninety-five percent will be FOI-able but cabinet confidentiality, personal conversations [will not]," Ford said "That’s not for the public to review if someone might send me something that’s very, very personal."
Ford insisted the main part of the change to the legislation is cybersecurity.
"We have to keep an eye on our adversaries," he said. "Be it China, North Korea, Russia. And if anyone thinks that they aren’t on to us and everywhere else in they world, well they’re sadly mistaken."
But opposition members of the legislature are slamming the move. They say the Freedom of Information law exists so that opposition lawmakers, journalists and members of the public can file requests to help shed more light on government decision-making.
Marit Stiles, the leader of the opposition New Democratic Party, said she isn’t buying any of it and calls the proposed change outrageous and appalling.
"No government changes the FOI rules unless they are trying to hide corruption," Stiles said.
And she said the proposed changes are nothing like what exists in other parts of the country.
"What we’re hearing is that these look like the biggest changes that anybody’s seen in decades," she said. "And certainly that makes sense because we’re seeing the most corrupt government that we’ve seen in decades."
Stiles said she and all members of the opposition and the government are civil servants.
"Let’s be very clear: These are public servants," she said. "Every single one of us is a public servant. And so as such, everything that we say and do should be subject to Freedom of Information laws. The people of Ontario have a right to know what their government is doing and how decisions are being made."
Stiles also questioned the timing of the changes.
"I’m wondering what it is that all of us were looking for that triggered the government to go ahead and change the law in such an extreme way," Stiles said.
That opinion is echoed by Liberal opposition member Stephanie Smyth.
"All it does is make them look very afraid, this premier very afraid of something that might come out," she said.
Other groups, such as the Canadian Taxpayers Association want the Ford government to drop the proposed changes.
"Ultimately it is just a fundamental erosion to the tools that ordinary voters and taxpayers have, to hold the government accountable," said Noah Jarvis, Ontario spokesperson for the CTA.
The new legislation likely won't be introduced until next week, when the legislature resumes sitting.
