Privacy commissioner challenges Doug Ford’s reasons for changing access-to-information rules

Posted on March 27, 2026 in Governance Policy Context

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TheStar.com – Politics/Provincial
March 25, 2026   By Moira Welsh, Queen’s Park Bureau

It’s a fact attack.

Information and privacy commissioner Patricia Kosseim has filed a six-point rebuttal to Premier Doug Ford’s “various” reasons for exempting himself, his cabinet ministers and political aides from access-to-information laws.

Less than 24 hours after Ford accused Kosseim of politicizing his planned changes to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), the commissioner’s office posted a detailed list of “facts” that, it said, counter the premier’s push to retroactively amend the law, which his majority government is expected to pass this spring.

“Taking away Ontarians’ access rights — retroactively and into the future — denies them the information they need to understand government decision-making at the highest levels and hold their governments to account,” Kosseim said.

“Such a change would not modernize access laws, strengthen privacy, or enhance security; it would weaken transparency and accountability for generations to come.”

In a sign of public engagement on this issue, a new Abacus Data poll commissioned by the Canadian Union of Public Employees found “clear opposition” to Freedom of Information (FOI) amendments with 83 per cent of Progressive Conservative voters expressing concern. The Abacus Data report said the Tory response suggests this is not a “purely partisan reaction.”

In the past, Ford has cited his approval ratings in Abacus Data polls done for the Star.

When asked about the poll by reporters on Wednesday, the premier did not directly respond but instead noted that Ontario had 75,000 FOI requests last year — a number challenged in the commission’s statement of “facts.”

The premier went on to say that Ontario should follow the same access-to-information rules used by the federal government and the “rest” of the provinces — another point rebutted by the commission.

“People that are focused on this are in two groups — the opposition and the media,” Ford said. The commission’s fact sheet said media was responsible for four per cent of FOI requests in 2024.

The commission, led by Kosseim, said its “update provides factual information in response to the various reasons that have since been offered for the proposed change.” The government announced the changes on March 13, citing the need to “modernize” a law that came into force in 1988.

In “Fact 1,” the commission said modernization is not achieved by “excluding the highest levels of government records.” Instead, it suggested a series of options, such as a “creative use of modern technology,” and “proactive disclosures” (by the government) of frequently requested information.

In its second FOI “fact,” Kosseim’s office said the act already protects against Ford’s repeated concerns about the release of “constituents” personal details from the private phone that he uses for government work. “Personal information of constituents, confidential commercial information, and cabinet confidences are already protected under FIPPA.”

As well, it noted that private phones should “never” be used for government-related business but, if so, work-related information should be transferred to “official government accounts” for record-keeping, security and “fair public scrutiny.”

The premier previously suggested that FIPPA could be used for information gathering by hostile foreign powers such as “communist China.”

But, the commission said, the premier, his ministers and political aides are at greater risk of cybersecurity attacks under the exemption if they are using personal devices since they will not be required to protect records “using reasonable physical, administrative and technical safeguards.”

Instead, sensitive government-related information, including sensitive personal information, would remain in their unsecure personal email accounts and devices, increasing the risks of cyberattacks

As for Ford’s contention that Ontario’s access to information laws should be changed to match laws among the provinces and the federal government, the office argued that those laws are already “consistent” with those of eight other provinces including British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba.

“Even the federal access-to-information law has been interpreted by the Supreme Court of Canada in a manner consistent with how Ontario’s current FIPPA is applied,” the office said.

In its final “fact,” offered as perspective to the premier’s assertion that 75,000 FOIs were filed last year, the commission noted its 2024 numbers, which totalled 27,344 requests “completed by provincial institutions such as government ministries, agencies, boards, and colleges and universities across Ontario.”

And, in a response to Ford’s suggestion that only the media and opposition parties use the laws, the commission said that in the 2024 FOI requests, “more than 95 per cent were submitted by “individuals, businesses, researchers, and community organizations.”

Moira Welsh is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star.

https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/privacy-commissioner-challenges-doug-fords-reasons-for-changing-access-to-information-rules/article_fa335717-ccec-467d-9002-0b999f610939.html?source=newsletter&utm_content=a05&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=email&utm_email=0C810E7AE4E7C3CEB3816076F6F9881B&utm_campaign=pol_hl_32952

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