TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO:
WHEREAS Premier Doug Ford has proposed sweeping changes that would retroactively exempt the Premier, his ministers, and their staff from Freedom of Information requests, allowing them to hide records and operate in secrecy; and
WHEREAS Ontarians rely on the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to hold their government accountable and expose wrongdoing; and
WHEREAS these changes come after the Premier lost a legal battle in which Global News journalists successfully fought to access records related to the Premier’s use of his personal cellphone for government business; and
WHEREAS instead of handing over his cellphone records, the Premier is now attempting to rewrite the rules to block the public from ever seeing similar records to those that exposed the Greenbelt scandal, the shady deal at Ontario Place, and the Skills Development Slush Fund; and
WHEREAS Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner has raised serious concerns that the government is changing the law to override the court's decision.
THEREFORE we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to:
Immediately abandon any plans to weaken or gut the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and call on Premier Doug Ford to turn over his personal cellphone records to Global News.