Ford government used code words to make it 'unduly difficult' to search Greenbelt records: report
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Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government broke its legal, record-keeping obligations amid its now-reversed decision to open up parts of the protected Greenbelt lands for housing, the province's information and privacy commissioner has found.
Political staff were using code words to thwart document requests and left a surprisingly small paper trail for such a consequential policy, Commissioner Patricia Kosseim wrote as part of her annual report.
A number of freedom-of-information appeals her office received on Greenbelt-related requests revealed concerning, systemic issues, she wrote.
"The Greenbelt-related appeals offer a clear example and cautionary tale about the consequences of inadequate recordkeeping," the IPC report said.
"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."
In addition to issues previously highlighted by the auditor general around political staff deleting Greenbelt emails and using personal accounts, the government sometimes used code words in communications.
Staffers sometimes referred to the Greenbelt project in messages as "special project," or "GB," or "G..," with references to G.. being next to impossible to find. Those terms and their inconsistent use made it "unduly difficult" to search for Greenbelt-related records, Kosseim wrote.
"Worse, the use of the code word "G.." made it virtually impossible to find relevant records, given that the asterisk ("..") is used as a technical wildcard when conducting text searches, returning any word starting with "G," she wrote.
That meant having to forego using the code word "G.." as a search term, so some Greenbelt records may have been missed, Kosseim wrote.
"These practices not only violate legal record-keeping obligations, they also erode public trust in the integrity of government decision-making," she wrote.
"The public has a fundamental right to know how and why decisions are made, especially those that impact protected lands like the Greenbelt. When records are obfuscated and made difficult, if not impossible, to find through evasive code words, transparency is compromised, and oversight becomes illusory."
But there was also a "surprising" lack of Greenbelt documentation at all, which undermines transparency, Kosseim found.
"The near-total absence of decision-making documentation is particularly concerning, especially on a file as high profile and consequential as changes to the Greenbelt," the report said.
"Despite evidence of meetings and discussions involving premier's office staff and ministry staff about the Greenbelt, there was very little documentation of what was said or decided in those conversations, aside from a few contemporaneous notes taken by ministry staff."
The RCMP is in the midst of an investigation into the government's decision to remove 15 parcels of land from the Greenbelt to remove 50,000 homes — a process the auditor general and integrity commissioner have found favoured certain developers.
Premier Doug Ford's office says the government has taken several steps to strengthen record-keeping practices, including reminding staff to preserve and manage records in accordance with requirements and holding training sessions, and will continue to comply with legal obligations.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said "enough is enough," because the last time political staff were found to be deleting government records, one went to jail.
A top aide to former premier Dalton McGuinty was convicted of illegal use of a computer relating to his destruction of potentially embarrassing documents about the Liberal government's costly decision to cancel two gas plants before the 2011 provincial election.
Stiles said there should be consequences for these new failings.
"When will the premier finally answer for the disturbing culture of dodging accountability and disappearing records within this government?" she wrote in a statement.
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