Ontario government used code words to hinder search of Greenbelt records: report

Allison Jones · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Jun 12, 2025 3:27 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

Ontario Premier Doug Ford's authorities broke its legal, record-keeping obligations amid its now-reversed determination to unfastened up parts of the protected Greenbelt lands for housing, the province's accusation and privateness commissioner has found.

Political unit were utilizing codification words to thwart papers requests and near a amazingly tiny insubstantial way for specified a consequential policy, Commissioner Patricia Kosseim wrote arsenic portion of her yearly report.

A fig of freedom-of-information appeals her bureau received connected Greenbelt-related requests revealed concerning, systemic issues, she wrote.

"The Greenbelt-related appeals connection a wide illustration and cautionary communicative astir the consequences of inadequate recordkeeping," the IPC study said.

"When cardinal authorities decisions are not decently documented, erstwhile codification words are used, oregon erstwhile records are stored successful fragmented ways crossed idiosyncratic and authoritative systems, transparency suffers, and with it, nationalist trust."

In summation to issues antecedently highlighted by the auditor wide astir governmental unit deleting Greenbelt emails and utilizing idiosyncratic accounts, the authorities sometimes utilized codification words successful communications.

Staffers sometimes referred to the Greenbelt task successful messages arsenic "special project," oregon "GB," oregon "G**," with references to G** being adjacent to intolerable to find. Those presumption and their inconsistent usage made it "unduly difficult" to hunt for Greenbelt-related records, Kosseim wrote.

"Worse, the usage of the codification connection "G**" made it virtually intolerable to find applicable records, fixed that the asterisk ("..") is utilized arsenic a method wildcard erstwhile conducting substance searches, returning immoderate connection starting with "G," she wrote.

That meant having to forego utilizing the codification connection "G**" arsenic a hunt term, truthful immoderate Greenbelt records whitethorn person been missed, Kosseim wrote.

"These practices not lone interruption ineligible record-keeping obligations, they besides erode nationalist spot successful the integrity of authorities decision-making," she wrote.

"The nationalist has a cardinal close to cognize however and wherefore decisions are made, particularly those that interaction protected lands similar the Greenbelt. When records are obfuscated and made difficult, if not impossible, to find done evasive codification words, transparency is compromised, and oversight becomes illusory."

But determination was besides a "surprising" deficiency of Greenbelt documentation astatine all, which undermines transparency, Kosseim found.

"The near-total lack of decision-making documentation is peculiarly concerning, particularly connected a record arsenic precocious illustration and consequential arsenic changes to the Greenbelt," the study said.

"Despite grounds of meetings and discussions involving premier's bureau unit and ministry unit astir the Greenbelt, determination was precise small documentation of what was said oregon decided successful those conversations, speech from a fewer contemporaneous notes taken by ministry staff."

The RCMP is successful the midst of an probe into the government's determination to region 15 parcels of onshore from the Greenbelt to region 50,000 homes — a process the auditor wide and integrity commissioner person recovered favoured definite developers.

Premier Doug Ford's bureau says the authorities has taken respective steps to fortify record-keeping practices, including reminding unit to sphere and negociate records successful accordance with requirements and holding grooming sessions, and volition proceed to comply with ineligible obligations.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles said "enough is enough," due to the fact that the past clip governmental unit were recovered to beryllium deleting authorities records, 1 went to jail.

A apical adjutant to erstwhile premier Dalton McGuinty was convicted of amerciable usage of a machine relating to his demolition of perchance embarrassing documents astir the Liberal government's costly determination to cancel 2 state plants earlier the 2011 provincial election.

Stiles said determination should beryllium consequences for these caller failings.

"When volition the premier yet reply for the disturbing civilization of dodging accountability and disappearing records wrong this government?" she wrote successful a statement.

"Today's study makes it wide that the Ford authorities broke the instrumentality portion trying to screen up their Greenbelt carve-up."