What to know
- The Ford government passed a controversial budget bill that includes changes to Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, allowing Premier Doug Ford and cabinet ministers to keep office and phone records private, retroactively.
- The bill was fast-tracked through the legislature, passing 57-33 after a rare late-night debate.
- Opposition leaders, including Marit Stiles and Mike Schreiner, criticized the changes as undemocratic and a threat to transparency, with Stiles pledging to reverse them if elected.
- The FOI amendments, first announced in March, have faced widespread public and political backlash.
Opposition parties and critics are voicing outrage after the Doug Ford government passed a controversial budget bill that includes changes to Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, allowing the premier and his ministers to keep certain records private.
The budget, passed Thursday, retroactively permits Ford and his cabinet ministers to shield office records, including phone records, from public access.
The legislation was fast-tracked through the legislature, passing 57-33 following a rare late-night debate on Wednesday.
The proposed changes to FOI laws were first announced in March and quickly drew criticism from opposition parties and members of the public.
On Thursday, Official Opposition Leader Marit Stiles released a statement condemning the move, saying democracy has suffered a serious blow.
“Democracy dies in darkness. Doug Ford just passed a law to hide his phone records and 40 years of public records,” Stiles said in a post on X. “Honest governments don’t change the law to protect themselves from the truth.”
Stiles added that, if she were premier, she would reverse the changes and work to “restore transparency, trust and faith in our democracy.”
In the hours leading up to the vote, Ontario Green Leader Mike Schreiner called the law “completely undemocratic.”
“This is completely undemocratic from a government that clearly has a great deal to hide,” Schreiner said in a post on X.
