Ford government wants to stop FOI disclosure of blue licence plate documents, taking fight to court

Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government is going to court to try to prevent the release of documents about its ill-fated blue licence plates, a move that comes amid a broader clampdown on public access to government records.

Lawyers for the government have applied for a judicial review of decisions by Ontario's information and privacy commissioner ordering the province to release documents in response to a freedom-of-information request by The Canadian Press.

While access to the documents should not be affected by recent, controversial changes the Ford government has made to freedom-of-information laws, the decision to fight in court to keep them secret is part of a troubling trend against transparency, critics say.

"Secrecy is the status quo for the Ford government," Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner wrote in a statement.

"The premier will do whatever it takes to keep people in the dark about how he's using their tax dollars. If he's working this hard to cover up his licence plate slip-up, imagine what else he's hiding from us."

WATCH | Ontario wants to change its FOI rules to keep some records secret:

Ontario is proposing excluding cabinet ministers and their offices from access to information requests, in order to align with jurisdictions in other parts of Canada, said Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement Stephen Crawford on Friday. CBC’s Shawn Jeffords explains. WARNING: This story contains vulgar language.

The new, more restrictive law prohibits disclosure of any records of the premier, cabinet ministers and their staff. The blue licence plate request was for documents within the civil service, but the government still does not want them made public, arguing they contain confidential advice.

The plates, featuring what critics note are shades of blue similar to Progressive Conservative branding, rolled out in early 2020. Within weeks, a Kingston, Ont., police officer posted a photo to social media showing they were "virtually unreadable" at night and the government ultimately decided to stop issuing them.

However, many of the nearly 200,000 blue plates originally issued were still on Ontario roads.

The Canadian Press made multiple inquiries about plans for getting them out of circulation and government spokespeople said repeatedly that drivers with blue plates would receive instructions on how to replace them "when the time comes."

But with no such plans apparently forthcoming nearly three years after the blue plates first hit Ontario roads, The Canadian Press filed a freedom-of-information request in late 2022 seeking documents on those plans.

The government found 15 records but denied access to them in full, citing an exemption that protects advice of civil servants as well as an exemption for information that would disclose a "pending policy decision."

The Canadian Press appealed to the information and privacy commissioner, who concluded earlier this year that while those exemptions did indeed apply, there is a public interest in releasing the documents, outweighing the exemptions.

By the time that IPC decision was released, the government had already publicly revealed their plan in 2024 for getting blue plates off the road — simply waiting for them to be phased out through attrition.

There is still more information the public deserves to know, the IPC's office concluded.

"I note that since the access request was filed, many of the government's plans for replacing the blue license plates have already been announced," the IPC adjudicator wrote.

"However, even when considering the information already available to the public, I continue to find that there is a compelling public interest in disclosure of the records, with the records providing detailed information on the Ontario government's plans to replace the blue license plates, the different approaches that were considered, and the costs and benefits of each approach."

The government asked the IPC for a formal reconsideration of its decision, but the IPC again ordered the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement to release the records.

Instead of doing so, the government is taking the case to court, arguing the IPC's conclusions are wrong.

"The IPC's finding that there was a 'compelling public interest' in disclosure was made based on no or insufficient evidence, and is therefore unreasonable in light of the record that was before it," government lawyers wrote to the court.

Liberal ethics critic Stephanie Smyth said the government has already admitted a problem existed with the plates and announced a fix, and Ontarians will wonder what they are so desperate to keep hidden.

"They lost at the IPC," Smyth wrote in a statement. "They lost again on reconsideration. Now they are spending taxpayer dollars going to court to keep these records secret. The harder this government fights to hide something, the more questions Ontarians are going to have."

The government also took the IPC to court over a decision ordering Ford to disclose cellphone records based on an FOI request from Global News, but the government lost. A few months later, the new FOI law was passed, shutting down access to any of Ford's records.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles said Ford is once again going "the extra mile" to hide information from the public.

"It's astonishing that keeping records secret about blue licence plates is the premier's top priority, and that he's willing to spend taxpayer money on yet another frivolous court battle," she wrote in a statement.