Statement from Commissioner Patricia Kosseim on proposed changes to Ontario's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act

TORONTO, March 13, 2026 /CNW/ - Ontario's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) was built on a simple democratic principle: that government transparency and accountability are fundamental to a healthy democracy. Government records must be accessible to the people of Ontario, subject only to limited and carefully defined exceptions.

Today's shocking announcement of proposed changes to FIPPA seriously undermines this principle. It raises serious concerns about the future of Ontarians' rights to transparency, privacy, and independent oversight.

The most alarming proposal would prevent Ontarians from accessing any government information held by the Premier, cabinet ministers, elected officials, and political staff.

To be crystal clear: FIPPA (like other freedom of information laws across the country) already protects personal, confidential, and constituency records from disclosure. This amendment is about hiding government-related business to evade public accountability.

The Government of Ontario is currently seeking leave to appeal a court ruling that unanimously upheld my office's order to produce call logs from the Premier's personal cellphone that relate to government business. This is to ensure independent examination to determine whether they may be subject to access under the law. Based on evidence showing that the Premier routinely uses his personal phone to conduct government business, it is likely that they are. By changing the law retroactively, the government's message is plain: if oversight bodies get in the way, just change the rules.

Freedom of information laws exist to provide Ontarians with vital information about how government decisions are made, on what basis, who influenced them, and whether the public interest is being served. If records about government business can be shielded from scrutiny simply because they sit in a minister's office, on a staffer's device, or within a political account, public accountability is eviscerated.

Ontarians also need to be concerned other proposed amendments that would significantly weaken their privacy protections.

• The bill would greatly diminish my office's oversight role for the data integration provisions in FIPPA which provide the government with extraordinary power to link records about every Ontarian across government departments, including their health information. Such records can be linked for analysis and decision-making about major public programs like health care, child welfare, and education, provided there are strong safeguards and oversight in place. These safeguards, and my office's oversight, are intended to protect Ontarians from excessive government intrusion into their private lives. Removing safeguards and oversight means that the government is effectively overseeing its own use of personal data -- an inherent conflict of interest that seriously weakens accountability and protection for Ontarians. 
  
  
• The bill would also allow government employees to carry their email accounts with them when they change jobs across different government ministries. These accounts often contain sensitive information tied to specific government programs and services, including personal information about Ontarians related to health care, community and social services, and transactions with government services such as Service Ontario. In effect, this could allow government employees to accumulate Ontarians' personal information as they move on throughout their careers, even when they no longer have any legitimate need to keep it. This unruly sprawl of personal information increases the risk of privacy breaches exponentially. The amendment would also make freedom of information requests and retention schedules almost impossible to administer, as records become embedded within individual email accounts and scattered across ministries.

Independent oversight is critical to ensure that government programs operate responsibly and with appropriate privacy protections. It gives Ontarians confidence that government transparency and accountability is subject to independent scrutiny and that their personal information is being carefully and responsibly managed by those in power. Oversight helps governments do their jobs in a way that garners public trust and support. Characterizing oversight as burdensome or inefficient and using it as an excuse to dismantle rights protections should be deeply concerning to Ontarians.

Freedom of information and privacy are fundamental rights for upholding a healthy democracy at a time when we need it the most. Once weakened, they are difficult to restore. I urge the government to withdraw these proposed changes that undermine the privacy protections and access rights of all Ontarians, and ultimately, gut public trust.

Patricia Kosseim

SOURCE Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario

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