The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that the Ontario government does not have to disclose Premier Doug Ford’s mandate letters in a unanimous decision issued Friday.
“The Letters are revealing of the substance of Cabinet deliberations, both on their face and when compared against what government actually does,” wrote Justice Andromache Karakatsanis in the majority decision.
Mandate letters traditionally lay out the marching orders a premier has for each of their ministers after taking office — and have been routinely released by governments across the country.
But the Ford government went to great lengths to keep the premier’s 2018 letters secret by appealing court orders to disclose the records all the way up to Canada’s top court, which heard the province’s appeal last April. Despite those efforts, a copy of all 23 of Ford’s 2018 mandate letters was reportedly leaked to Global News in September of last year.
CBC Toronto originally filed a freedom of information request for the records in July 2018. The government denied access in full, arguing the letters were exempt from disclosure as cabinet records.
Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) states that any records that “would reveal the substance of deliberations of the executive council or its committee” are exempt from public disclosure under what’s commonly referred to as the cabinet record exemption.
The interpretation of that exemption was at the heart of the mandate letter case. Several organizations intervened before the top court to argue that if the Ontario government’s interpretation was adopted it would vastly expand the scope of records the government can keep secret from the public in a way that would undermine democracy and impair the public’s ability to hold governments accountable.
The privacy commissioner’s initial decision, and all of the court rulings prior to the latest from the Supreme Court, have supported a narrower interpretation of the boundaries of cabinet secrecy, which differentiates between deliberations and their results.
Supreme court quashes initial decision
But the Supreme Court disagreed. In her majority decision, Justice Karakatsanis found former IPC Commissioner Brian Beamish’s initial decision, which determined the mandate letters were not cabinet records, both unreasonable and wrong.
“Deliberations’ understood purposively can include outcomes or decisions of Cabinet’s deliberative process, topics of deliberation, and priorities identified by the Premier, even if they do not ultimately result in government action,” wrote Karakatsanis.
In addition to laying out the scope of what should be considered “the substance of deliberations,” Karakatsanis wrote about the significance of Cabinet confidentiality as a “constitutional convention.”
The Supreme Court’s ruling comes after years of decisions and appeals. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
“FIPPA’s Cabinet records exemption was a critical part of the balance the legislature struck between public access to information and necessary spheres of government confidentiality,” she wrote.
“The IPC failed to give meaningful weight to the legal and factual context, including traditions and constitutional conventions concerning Cabinet confidentiality.”
In the end, Karakatsanis found that the letters themselves along with the representations of cabinet office were “clearly sufficient” to find that the records fell within the scope of the cabinet record exemption in FIPPA.
Karakatsanis also ordered CBC to pay costs for the appeal to the Ontario government.
In a statement, a CBC spokesperson said “we are disappointed in today’s decision,” given the broadcaster’s success in the case before the IPC, Divisional Court and the Ontario Court of Appeal.
“Nonetheless, we appreciate the Supreme Court has now provided clarity in the law. CBC News will continue to fight for open access to government-held information,” said CBC spokesperson Chuck Thompson.
“We believe the media’s coverage of the Ontario Greenbelt controversy, which included information the provincial government sought to keep private, illustrates the high public value of transparency and open access to information.”
Decision likely to impact future access to information
Justice Suzanne Côté wrote a concurrent decision for the case, which agreed that the mandate letters are exempt from disclosure but disagreed about the standard of review. Where the majority found that “the same conclusion follows regardless of whether the standard of review is correctness or reasonableness,” Côté found the standard of review should just be “correctness.” Her argument centered around the need for a “single determinate answer” on an issue as significant as the scope of Cabinet privilege.
In a statement, the IPC said, “we appreciate the significance of the Supreme Court’s decision and are examining its broader implications.”
The Ontario government’s submissions in the case had argued the information and privacy commissioner took a “narrow and restrictive approach” interpreting “substance of deliberations,” which amounts to “an unwarranted incursion into the functioning of cabinet.”
CBC Toronto reached out to the province for comment on the Supreme Court decision but has yet to receive a response.
The attorney generals for both Alberta and B.C. also intervened in the case to support Ontario’s broad interpretation of the cabinet record exemption.
The Supreme Court’s decision could have a profound impact on the future of public access to information in Canada that could go far beyond access to the letters themselves.
The Centre for Free Expression, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, the Canadian Association of Journalists and Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) intervened in the case as a group. They argued against the government’s interpretation of the legislation, saying it would lead to “absurd results” including keeping secret “any record that revealed that a particular topic had been identified by the premier as a policy priority.”
Opposition parties call for transparency
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles blasted the province’s fight to keep the mandate letters secret at a news conference Friday morning.
“This is not a win for the people of Ontario,” said Stiles. “But what I think is the most disappointing is actually that the government fought so hard to hide this information.”
Despite the ruling allowing the letters to remain secret, Stiles said the decision “doesn’t change the premier’s obligation to be transparent with the public or accountable for his actions.”
In a statement, Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie called on Ford’s government to disclose how much the legal fight for the mandate letters cost taxpayers.
Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the public is entitled to transparency and accountability.
“This is a disappointing ruling that sets a poor precedent for democracy in Ontario,” said Schreiner in a statement.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia‘s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
