Ontario's Ford Government Limits FOI Access

0:00It's March 24th. Welcome to Toronto News Today, powered by AI. Ontario's government has decided that records from the premier, cabinet ministers, parliamentary assistants and their offices will no longer be open to public freedom of information requests. This change took effect earlier this month, aiming to limit what gets released under the province's access laws. Premier Doug Ford explained the move by pointing to privacy concerns by personal and health details from text messages sent to his office. He noted that such info is already shielded by existing rules. Meanwhile, provincial agencies handle about 75,000 freedom of information requests each year. The information and privacy commissioner, Patricia Cossing, pushed back hard. She supported a media outlets request for Ford's call logs, arguing they should be public since he uses his personal phone for official work. Cossing called out the timing of the new rules as a way to dodge oversight. Ford hid back on Tuesday accusing Cossing of turning the debate political.

1:03He said he'd never seen a privacy commissioner do media interviews like hers this week, calling it an unfortunate step. Tensions remain high as both sides dig in, with questions lingering over how much government transparency Ontario residents can still expect.