QUEEN’S PARK — Mike Schreiner released the following statement in response to news that the Premier’s Chief of Staff appears to have omitted text communications between himself and Metrolinx CEO in response to an FOI filing by Global News.
“This is a government that will use any means necessary to conceal the extent of its wrongdoing from the public.
From using personal email accounts to withholding text messages to passing envelopes around at dinner parties, we see repeated evidence of this government’s failure to be open and honest about how they make decisions.
The reason we have record retention rules is to ensure that key government decisions are made out in the open and in the view of the public – not cordoned off in some back room.
There is no excuse for this kind of behaviour in the Premier’s office. I hope the privacy commissioner’s investigation into Greenbelt recordkeeping will shed some much-needed light on the government’s bad behaviour and deliver the transparency Ontarians deserve.”