Ontario MPPs must say no to Ford’s freedom of information cuts

Premier Doug Ford is using the recent provincial budget bill to permanently change Ontario’s Freedom of Information (FOI) laws to restrict public access to public decision-making, weakening our democracy.

What you can do

Tell your MPP to vote no to proposed changes to FOI laws. Your email will go to your MPP, the members of the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs and Katie Krelove, Wilderness Committee Ontario Campaigner. Remember to add to your message in the box.

Use these points to consider to help write your letter!

  • As your constituent I urge you to keep the public trust by voting to remove the proposed changes to Freedom of Information laws from Ontario’s 2026 budget bill. 
  • FOI laws exist to give Ontarians vital information about how government decisions are made, on what basis, who influenced them, and whether the public interest is being served. Rewriting these laws to exclude the premier, cabinet members, parliamentary secretaries and staff from transparency in the future and retroactively sends the disturbing message that this government has something to hide.
  • FOI requests have served the public interest by revealing questionable decision-making practices, including: the proposal to remove Greenbelt lands, the failure to heed recommendations from the province’s Protected Areas Working Group, and the insider influence on the Skills Development Fund. The public has the right to know how their taxes are being used. 
  • Current FOI laws already preclude sharing private information of constituents and cabinet deliberations. These are not valid excuses for changing the rules. 
  • The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario has urged the government to rethink the proposed changes to FOI laws because they will make Ontario less transparent and raise major security concerns by implicitly allowing the widespread use of personal emails and phones to make public decisions.
  • Research conducted by Abacus Data on behalf of the Canadian Union of Public Employees found just 24 per cent of those asked support the new changes to FOI laws, while 60 per cent are against them. A separate poll by Liaison Strategies found 65 per cent of those polled opposed retroactively changing freedom of information laws. 
  • Do the right thing: use your influence to retract the proposed changes to Ontarians right to access government documents.

Use these points to consider to help write your letter!

  • As your constituent I urge you to keep the public trust by voting to remove the proposed changes to Freedom of Information laws from Ontario’s 2026 budget bill. 
  • FOI laws exist to give Ontarians vital information about how government decisions are made, on what basis, who influenced them, and whether the public interest is being served. Rewriting these laws to exclude the premier, cabinet members, parliamentary secretaries and staff from transparency in the future and retroactively sends the disturbing message that this government has something to hide.
  • FOI requests have served the public interest by revealing questionable decision-making practices, including: the proposal to remove Greenbelt lands, the failure to heed recommendations from the province’s Protected Areas Working Group, and the insider influence on the Skills Development Fund. The public has the right to know how their taxes are being used. 
  • Current FOI laws already preclude sharing private information of constituents and cabinet deliberations. These are not valid excuses for changing the rules. 
  • The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario has urged the government to rethink the proposed changes to FOI laws because they will make Ontario less transparent and raise major security concerns by implicitly allowing the widespread use of personal emails and phones to make public decisions.
  • Research conducted by Abacus Data on behalf of the Canadian Union of Public Employees found just 24 per cent of those asked support the new changes to FOI laws, while 60 per cent are against them. A separate poll by Liaison Strategies found 65 per cent of those polled opposed retroactively changing freedom of information laws. 
  • Do the right thing: use your influence to retract the proposed changes to Ontarians right to access government documents.