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FOI (Ont) - Purpose. Ontario (AG) v. Ontario (Information and Privacy Commissioner)
In Ontario (AG) v. Ontario (Information and Privacy Commissioner) (Ont Div Ct, 2025) the Ontario Divisional Court dismissed a JR, this brought by the AG against two IPC orders that "found the Cabinet Office had control over those entries of Premier Ford’s personal cellphone call logs that related to government or departmental matters under s. 10(1) ['Right of access'] of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act".
Here the court considers the nature and purpose of the FIPPA regime:[2] It is now widely accepted that access to government information laws are vital tools of democratic practice, contributing to transparency, accountability and meaningful participation in public debate and political decision-making. The Decisions raise the important question of whether shielding phone logs from a personal cellphone that relate to departmental matters from public access would undermine the purposes of FIPPA.
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[19] Freedom of information legislation recognizes the importance of providing the public with a right of access to information held by public institutions. This broad right of access promotes transparency and accountability by allowing public scrutiny of institutions’ activities. This goal is explicitly recognized as one of the two overarching purposes of FIPPA:1. The purposes of this Act are,
(a) to provide a right of access to information under the control of institutions in accordance with the principles that,
(i) information should be available to the public,
(ii) necessary exemptions from the right of access should be limited and specific, and
(iii) decisions on the disclosure of government information should be reviewed independently of government; and
(b) to protect the privacy of individuals with respect to personal information about themselves held by institutions and to provide individuals with a right of access to that information.
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