Watchdog leans into ‘firmer enforcement’ over Ford government personal devices

Ontario’s transparency watchdog says she is beginning to use “firmer enforcement powers” in an effort to get ahead of the Ford government’s consistent use of personal devices for government business — a trend that’s being called “worrying.”

The Information and Privacy Commissioner is engaged in multiple, escalating battles with current and former members of the Progressive Conservative administration over government records seemingly kept hidden on personal accounts and devices.

The watchdog is responsible for overseeing privacy and transparency laws in Ontario, including adjudicating freedom of information appeals to access information that the public has a legal right to know.

Two cases currently before Ontario’s courts will test the IPC’s resolve, power and will set precedent for how political staff and leaders conduct business for years to come.

They involve Premier Doug Ford and senior former political staffer at the centre of the Greenbelt scandal.

Recently, the IPC issued a legal summons to compel Ryan Amato, the former chief of staff at the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, to be examined under oath and answer questions about whether he has more emails relating to the Greenbelt on his personal account, which he has not handed over to the government to be released.

In the other high-profile case, the IPC ordered Premier Doug Ford to turn over government-related call logs from his personal cell phone, arguing that he is legally required to follow transparency laws and disclose records related to government business.

The government appealed that decision through a judicial review. Amato is also seeking a judicial review, meaning both rulings are being challenged in court.

Those decisions are forcing the commissioner to enter into what could be protracted, high-stakes legal battles over access to information she believes the public is entitled to.

In an interview with Global News, Commissioner Patricia Kosseim said her office’s decision to escalate the fight by using her power to issue a summons and question individuals under oath came after years of roadblocks.

“The cases … are the culmination of months, if not years, of mediation, resolution attempts, and have escalated to the point where we need to use some of these firmer enforcement powers,” she said.

“Particularly where the cases have to do with the use of personal emails and personal devices to conduct government-related business.”

Kossiem, whose office has mediated a number of disputes between Global News and the Ford government over multiple access to information requests relating to personal devices, outlined the dangers of avoiding government-issued devices.

“We need to ensure that the use of personal emails and devices aren’t used as a way of circumventing those fundamental obligations,” she said.

“It’s serious enough that we are pressing the issue in order to make sure that the very purpose of FOI and FOI principles underlying our legislation are not undermined or circumvented.”

That is the argument one lawyer made in court in December as he pushed the government to comply with the IPC’s order and make records from Premier Ford’s personal phone public.

Kossiem added that the rise of personal devices is a “very worrying trend that we need to quell as soon as possible.”

Ford, however, has incorrectly maintained that the order should be ignored or thrown out because it risks making details about private citizens public.

“Do you want your personal records about your health care and your family and everything else going public? There has to be confidentiality,” Ford said.

“I get very personal, personal calls about family situations. Very deep, too. And they trust me. So, I’m not going to break their trust; I’m going to make sure they’re confidential.”

The premier, however, has also acknowledged having conversations with industry leaders, CEOs of private companies, U.S. government officials and other Canadian politicians — none of which are legally shielded from public view and access.

Kossiem said she welcomes the court battle over access to government-related records kept on the premier’s private cell phone.

“It’s a question now in the hands of the court that will clarify for everybody the proper procedures and practices, when it comes to upholding the fundamental principles of transparency and access to information,” she said.

“So we welcome the decision that will provide all of us with greater clarity and I think it will be a very, very important precedent.”

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.