In November 2024 the Star first filed a freedom of information request with Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation for communications sent or received by the minister and five ministry officials, containing the words “bike lanes.”
The request followed Prabmeet Sarkaria’s announcement that his government would force the removal of some Toronto bike lanes — legislation that sparked intense public debate, a legal challenge now being deliberated by Ontario’s Court of Appeal, and, finally, a compromise with the city of Toronto to preserve the Bloor Street bike lane while resurrecting a vehicle lane.
Sixteen months later, the Star has not received any internal emails, reports or other records from Sarkaria’s ministry. Nor has it received a ministry decision about which records it considers releasable and which it will try to keep secret under Ontario’s government transparency laws.
In March, the province’s Information and Privacy Commissioner — which ordered the Transportation Ministry in August to give the Star its decision no later than last Sept. 18 — said the ministry “has advised that it is actively working on responding to your request.” The ministry has provided the Star with such assurances since late 2024.
FOI process dragged out
The timeline doesn’t surprise government transparency advocates. Though Premier Doug Ford’s government has come under fire for moving to retroactively shield records from public scrutiny, they say the Ontario government was already dragging out the current freedom-of-information (FOI) process — potentially making records no longer relevant to public debate or decision-making.
“The FOI system in Ontario is barely adequate” now, said James Turk, director of the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University, with little to stop the province from delaying release until records are “stale to the point of being useless.
“And instead of dramatically increasing access to records, for which people have a right, Ford is moving to dramatically reduce public access.”
The Ford government announced a new law that will make records of the premier, cabinet ministers, parliamentary assistants and their offices exempt from FOI laws. Members of the public could still seek records created by civil servants in government ministries.
The change would be retroactive, potentially ending the Star’s bike lane request as it pertains to records created by Sarkaria and named officials in his office. It could affect other ongoing battles for provincial records involving the Greenbelt scandal and Ford cellphone records ordered by the IPC to be released to Global News.
Patricia Kosseim, Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, said that Ford retroactively expanding FOI exemptions would send a message that “if oversight bodies get in the way, just change the rules.”
She added that FOI laws exist to give Ontarians “vital information about how government decisions are made, on what basis, who influenced them, and whether the public interest is being served.”
Initial request sent in 2024
The Star’s Nov. 19, 2024 FOI request asked for communications containing the phrase ”bike lanes,” sent or received by Sarkaria, and named political staff and ministry officials, between April 1, 2024 and Nov. 18, 2024.
The government foot-dragging “is not surprising, given who’s doing it,” said Turk, referring to Ford, whom he said makes a show of transparency by offering his personal cell number but, since becoming premier in 2018, has repeatedly fought to keep publicly funded records secret.
“What is surprising is that the privacy commissioner hasn’t been a little more aggressive in pushing” Sarkaria’s ministry to provide a response to the Star’s request which, he noted, could be a refusal to release some or all of the records, which the Star would have to fight with another complaint to the commissioner.
Some records potentially covered by the Star’s FOI request have been made public through court proceedings, including records showing the government had research showing that removing bike lanes might not alleviate congestion, as Ford had assured the public, and could increase the number of cyclists hit by drivers.
Duff Conacher, co-founder of Ottawa-based Democracy Watch, told the Star that Ontario’s FOI regime is already “so full of loopholes it really should be called the ‘guide to keeping information secret that the public has a right to know’ law.
“As long as there is no penalty for violating the freedom of information law, Cabinet ministers, government institutions, and public officials will continue to violate the law regularly by keeping secret or delaying disclosure of information and government records that the public has a clear legal right to see.”
Motorists parking illegally face greater penalties than government officials ignoring orders to release records, he said.
Sarkaria did not respond to a Star request to his office for comment for this story.
Asked for comment on delays of record releases despite IPC orders, Kosseim’s office emailed a statement noting that wilfully failing to comply with such an order is a provincial offence.
Prosecution could be triggered by anyone but only with consent of Ontario’s attorney general — a member of the Ford government. The privacy commissioner can in some cases, such as personal health privacy breaches, file orders with Superior Court, which are then treated as court orders. However the privacy commissioner does not have that explicit power for FOI breaches.
The privacy commissioner has, over the years, urged the province to modernize laws so that FOI breaches can be referred to Superior Court and enforced as court orders, it said.
“Unfortunately, our efforts have not been successful, but we will continue to advocate for these changes, including as part of any upcoming legislative proposals.”
