Ford vs Everybody

And Minister MIA

ABOVE THE FOLD

Another raucous day inside and outside the Park. Let’s hop to it.

Inside the Legislature, DOUG FORD was again playing defence over his hot-potato move to gut freedom-of-information laws. A day earlier, the Premier contended it’s just the media and his political rivals who oppose the move — now, he’s taking potshots at privacy watchdog PATRICIA KOSSEIM, an independent officer of the Assembly.

The Information and Privacy Commish, whose office had ordered the release of Ford’s personal cellphone records that the government has been fighting in court, has pulled no punches in public interviews and opinion pages, saying Ford’s FOI changes amount to a government changes the rules of the oversight game when it becomes inconvenient.

Kosseim has also poked holes in Ford’s justification, noting that cabinet confidence and personal information like health records are already shielded from the public eye, and that instead of bringing Ontario in line with other jurisdictions, these c…