Ford government broke legal record-keeping rules during Greenbelt scandal [Video]

Ontario’s transparency watchdog says the Ford government’s use of personal emails and codewords when it removed land from the Greenbelt provides a “cautionary tale” on the importance of transparency, in a report lambasting it for poor record-keeping.

On Thursday, the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s office released a report summarizing the results of a number of freedom of information appeals over Greenbelt decisions and communications.

Taken together, the appeals show the government violated “legal record-keeping obligations,” the report said, adding that the incidents “erode public trust in the integrity of government decision making.”

The report found the government had used “opaque codewords” to refer to discussions about the Greenbelt, something that “weakens transparency.”

It also expressed surprise at the lack of records showing who made the decision to remove 7,400 acres of protected land from the Greenbelt and what considerations went into it.

That land removal decision was announced in November 2022 and met with …