Ontario ordered to retrieve any Greenbelt emails on former staffers personal account [Video]

The Ford government has been ordered to try and access emails related to the Greenbelt scandal sitting in a former staffer’s personal email account, after Ontario’s transparency watchdog found the province had failed to retain potentially valuable records.

In an order issued after an appeal by Global News, the Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) said the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing had failed “to put in place mechanisms” to ensure its staff were not using personal email accounts for government business.

The order told the government it must immediately take steps to work out if former housing chief of staff Ryan Amato has emails with the word “Greenbelt” in his personal account and, if he does, try to access them.

The transparency watchdog said in its rulings that any emails, even on Amato’s personal server, would be government records if they contained the keyword. It gave the government a deadline to try to …