Ontarians, the government is coming for your right to know.
For years, freedom of information requests have been one of the few tools ordinary citizens, journalists, and researchers have had to hold power to account and peel back the curtain on government decisions.
That tool is now under direct assault.
Public and Business Service Delivery Minister Stephen Crawford confirmed the Doug Ford Progressive Conservative government’s plan to exempt the premier, his cabinet ministers and their staff from freedom of information laws entirely.
They’re selling it as “modernization” and a way to “protect against Chinese spies,” but it smells more like a brazen Big Government power grab to operate in total secrecy.
This comes hot on the heels of Premier Ford facing intense pressure to release his personal cellphone records — the same phone he uses for official business, with sources saying that his chief of staff and senior aides dodge government communication disclosure laws by utilizing encrypted apps like WhatsApp and Signal.
When access to information shrinks, accountability dies.
Journalists can’t break stories. Researchers can’t expose failures. Families and communities lose their voice against policies that reshape their lives.
This isn’t partisan; it affects everyone. The government may view transparency as a “burden,” but really, it’s the bare minimum in a democracy.
If the government is truly acting in the best interest of the public, then why make it harder for the public to see how they’re shaping policy and decisions?
The public has a right to know, and that means access that isn’t coming in the form of heavily redacted fragments months later.
Hellbound and Down 