Hmmm, how long will it be before the cap blows off the poisoned well?
As you will have heard on the news, the Ford Conservatives used their majority to ram through an omnibus budget bill in the Ontario Legislature. Bill 97 included, among other things, the controversial plan to amalgamate conservation authorities and the blatantly self-serving changes to Freedom of Information laws.
For the record, the usual legislative process sees bills go to committees where affected groups and members of the public have a change to weigh in. Members from opposition can propose and debate amendments. In other words, the democratic process at work.
But the Ford government chose to skip committee sessions and limit the legislature to a heated question period and debate in a rare light-night setting. In other words, to hell with the democratic process. We (the Ford government) have too much dirty laundry we do not want to be aired.
Freedom of Information (FOI) laws are designed to give the public access to information from public institutions ensuring transparency. Journalists have used them to report groundbreaking stories such as the controversial closure of the Ontario Science Centre and the Greenbelt Scandal. In other words, the democratic process at work.
The changes the Ford government rammed through exempt the premier, cabinet ministers and parliamentary assistants from being subject to Freedom of Information laws. In other words, the laws apply to everyone except us. We (the Ford Government) assert the right to operate without transparency and without accountability. In other words, to hell with the democratic process.
And oh, by the way, the changes to the Freedom of Information laws are retroactive. So we (the Ford Government) are slamming the door shut on access to the cellphone records the media wants relating to the Greenbelt Scandal. In other words, to hell with the democratic process.
So to summarize, the omnibus budget bill that was rammed through:
Gives the Ford Government carte blanche to operate behind closed doors, make backroom deals and generally do as they please with little accountability.
Guts the investigation into the Greenbelt Scandal and attempts to ensure that Ford’s dirty laundry will not see the light of day.
And oh yeah, the purchase of the $28.5 million private jet for Doug Ford? So sorry, we (the Ford government) are so out of touch we never thought it would be an issue. We sold it back to Bombardier. No, you do not get to know what we had to agree to in order to make that happen.
The Ford Government has became a poisoned well with Doug Ford doing all he can to cap the well and keep anyone from peering into it. But we all know what is down there and what a terrible odour it emits. Sooner or later the truth will come out. It always does.
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Tags: Bill 97 · Doug Ford · Doug Ford private jet · Freedom of Information laws · Greenbelt scandal · metaphor · Michael Robert DyetNo Comments