Editorial – When the public disclosure is in name only

The Ontario government recently passed new legislation that reforms how Freedom of Information inquiries operate. That legislation now restricts more Executive Council (cabinet) documents, high-level correspondence, and call logs of senior officials including those of Premier Doug Ford. When it was announced, Ford claimed he needed these reforms to protect the privacy of the claimed thousands of people who call him with their problems.

Ford’s claim was, and remains, utter nonsense. Legislation like the federal Privacy Act and the previously unamended Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Personal Health Information Protection Act, and Child, Youth and Family Services Act (Part 10), all protected sensitive information. Ford’s changes now shield his government further – which he claims it already open and transparent, at 95 per cent. A lot can hide in that five per cent -— but the province already hides a lot more than five per cent of what should be public information using the legal tools available.

For example, the province’s land agency, Infrastructure Ontario, sold nearly 2,500 acres of the Edwardsburgh Land Bank — land that was expropriated or purchased from residents nearly five decades ago — to a defence contractor in Edwardsburgh Cardinal. That land purchase is subject to a non-disclosure agreement, so the terms and purchase price have not been released. That is public land, some of which was taken through legal force, that was then sold buy the provincial government (public) and you the public are not allowed to know for how much.

The purchase agreement for the balance of that 10,000- acre land bank between the province and the Township of Edwardsburgh Cardinal was approved at that council’s April 27 meeting in open council. However, the actual agreement and purchase price are subject to a non-disclosure agreement. So for now, and who knows for how long, residents — aka taxpayers -— are on the hook for the purchase of publicly owned land from one government to become publicly-owned land of another government. But the public is not allowed to know how much they are on the hook for.

As reported in this edition of The Leader, a publicly-owned provincial agency, the St. Lawrence Parks Commission, is in the process of selling publicly-owned land (which had also been expropriated or purchased by the province) to the Township of South Stormont. As that sale is not yet concluded, the public is not allowed to know many of the details outside of what has been reported in our story. Given the legal tools available before, and the legislated changes now in effect, can the public expect to ever learn those details? Do not hold your breath.