3 days ago
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
Watchdog slams Ford government for using code words and private emails to discuss the Greenbelt
Ontario's information and privacy watchdog has blasted staff in Premier
Doug Ford's
government for using code words and private emails to discuss the controversial
Greenbelt
land swap.
As the
RCMP continues its criminal investigation of the $8.28 billion Greenbelt scandal
, Information and Privacy Commissioner Patricia Kosseim said the government's tactics 'frustrated' searches under freedom of information legislation and broke laws requiring proper records on official decisions.
'When key government decisions are not properly documented, when code words are used, or when records are stored in fragmented ways across personal and official systems, transparency suffers and with it public trust,' Kosseim wrote in her annual report released Thursday.
'Ongoing oversight remains essential to ensure corrective measures are not only implemented but sustained.'
Code words included special project, SP-GB, GB and special project — GB, all of which made it difficult to search for documents using standard search methodology.
Even worse, the use of G* as a code made it 'virtually impossible' to find records because the use of the asterisk returns any word starting with G, resulting in a deluge of records 'wholly impossible to sort through,' Kosseim noted.
New Democrat Leader Marit Stiles said the dodgy practices are 'disturbing.'
'Today's report makes it clear that the Ford government broke the law while trying to cover up their Greenbelt carve-up,' she added in a statement.
'Deleting government records is illegal. The last time this happened, someone went to jail. Enough hiding. It's time for the premier to come clean,' she added in reference to the conviction of
David Livingston
, chief of staff to former premier Dalton McGuinty when natural gas-fired power plants were cancelled in Oakville and Mississauga before the 2011 election.
Ford's office said in a statement the government has taken steps, as acknowledged in the report, to improve record-keeping, such as training sessions for staff on the principles of access to information legislation.
'We will continue to comply with our obligations under the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act and the Archives and Recordkeeping Act.'
Almost three years ago, Ford rezoned 7,400 acres of environmentally sensitive land in the 2-million acre Greenbelt around the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area despite promising not to do so.
A joint Star and Narwhal investigation in November 2022 found eight of the 15 parcels slated for housing construction had been bought up by developers after the Tories were elected in 2018 when the land was still protected.
In August 2023, the auditor general and the integrity commissioner each released reports that revealed property owners with ties to Ford's Progressive Conservatives were 'favoured' in the rezoning process.
A month later, against the backdrop of plunging poll numbers, Ford cancelled the land swap. The Mounties launched their criminal probe weeks later.
With files from Robert Benzie
