Ontario premier Doug Ford used his personal cellphone for provincial business, leading a panel of three judges to rule his personal cellphone was subject to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. Now, Ford wants to exempt the premier, cabinet ministers and parliamentary staffers from FOI laws, explicitly saying because of his cellphone use. The move is a brazen attack on the public's right to knowledge about their government, but it's a large and unique piece of a larger attack on freedom of information systems. Justin Ling, investigative reporter and columnist at the Toronto Star, joins Scott to discuss the larger context, the attacks against FOI systems across the country and what news organizations need to do to push back.
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Sources and further reading:
https://readthecatch.ca/the-assassination-of-the-foi-by-the-coward-doug-ford-ft-justin-ling-podcast
Artwork by Zo at Studio Bonjourhi
Intro Music: Vigilante - Cross Dog
Outro Music: \"Magic Escape Room\" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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