Doug Ford accuses privacy commissioner of politicizing his changes to access to information law

“It is very politically driven, in my opinion, and it’s unfortunate we have a privacy commissioner that wants to politicize this.”

After the government’s April 13 announcement, Ontario’s information and privacy commissioner Patricia Kosseim called the decision “shocking.”

“It raises serious concerns about the future of Ontarians’ rights to transparency, privacy, and independent oversight,” Kosseim said in a statement.

“This amendment,” she wrote, “is about hiding government-related business to evade public accountability.”

Kosseim later published an opinion piece on the changes in the Globe and Mail. 

On Tuesday, in response to Ford’s accusations of politicizing FIPPA amendments, the commissioner’s office said Kosseim is an “independent officer of the Legislature with a statutory mandate to comment on matters that affect Ontarians’ access to information and privacy rights.”

Kosseim’s focus, her office said, is on the content and impact of the changes.

“These are matters of public interest, regardless of political affiliation,” the statement said. 

Business Minister Stephen Crawford made the original announcement, saying the amendments will exclude the records of the premier, cabinet ministers, parliamentary assistants and their offices. The new rules will be retroactive, Crawford said. 

Ford has since offered several reasons for the change.

He said it will bring Ontario in line with access to information rules in the federal government and most other provinces, although experts say FIPPA already protects communications among cabinet ministers.

Ford also said the changes will protect his cabinet from “communist China” and other hostile power. National security experts countered that claim, saying foreign spy services do not use the lengthy access to information laws for their information gathering.

He has also said he does not want journalists to get the records for the private phone that he uses for government business. Ford said he takes calls, day and night, from constituents who talk to him about personal issues. 

Kosseim previously said that FIPPA “already protects personal, confidential, and constituency records from disclosure.”

Kosseim’s statement noted that the government was seeking leave to appeal a court ruling that “unanimously upheld my office’s order to produce call logs from the premier’s personal cellphone that relate to government business.”

“It raises serious concerns about the future of Ontarians’ rights to transparency, privacy, and independent oversight,” Kosseim wrote.

“The most alarming proposal would prevent Ontarians from accessing any government information held by the premier, cabinet ministers, elected officials and political staff.”

On Tuesday, Kosseim’s office pushed back against Ford’s politicization claims.

The commissioner’s comments, it said, are based on “expert knowledge and experience in administering this law for nearly 40 years, and the potential impact of these proposed changes on the rights of all Ontarians.”