Ontario's Secretive FOI Law Rewrite: A Security Concern?

0:00It's March 21st in Canada. Let's get into the news. Ontario's government is rewriting its freedom of information laws to exclude all records from the premier, cabinet ministers, parliamentary, assistants, and their staff. This retroactive change would shield things like calls, emails, and texts from public access, aiming to update nearly 40-year-old rules. The Ford administration says the move brings Ontario in line with most other Canadian provinces and the federal government. Officials argue it's overdue and helps protect against foreign threats, like interference from groups they describe as infiltrating key sectors. But the province's information and privacy commissioner is pushing back hard. She says this actually puts Ontario out of step with a majority of jurisdictions, making it one of the most secretive in Canada by fully excluding. Political records from oversight. The bigger worry is security. By pulling these records out of both transparency and privacy rules, there's no civil service or commissioner jurisdiction over how they're handled on.

1:03Personal devices or after officials leave office, leaving them more vulnerable. This debate highlights the tension between government protection and public accountability, with the changes still moving forward amid sharp criticism.