The Ford government has been ordered to release seemingly innocuous emails containing an outdated schedule for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT and details of construction work on the Ontario Line, which it has fought for years not to make public.

Since the summer of 2023, Global News has been trying to obtain access to emails between former Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster and Premier Doug Ford’s chief of staff, Patrick Sackville, using freedom of information laws.

The government refused to disclose six months’ worth of messages between the pair covering the first half of 2023. It argued that the messages contained economically sensitive information and advice to the government, among other reasons.

Releasing them, Ontario claimed, could lead to economic harm, make it harder to enter into new contracts and disincentivize staff from providing frank advice to politicians.

A lengthy freedom of information appeal followed. During that process, Global News confirmed Sackville had lost months’ worth of texts after resetting his cellphone.

Global News also agreed to only pursue a portion of the messages between the two men to speed up the hearings. The appeal ended, after close to two years, with the Information and Privacy Commission ordering the government to release several pages of withheld messages.

A spokesperson for the premier’s office said decisions on what to release and what not to are made by non-political staff.

“Non-partisan public officials apply exemptions to records as applicable under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act,” they wrote in a statement. “As noted in the decision, the adjudicator did uphold the application of exemptions in this appeal.”

The ruling said the government was right to withhold one of seven pages. It was ordered to release the other six.

Duff Conacher, the co-founder of the advocacy group Democracy Watch, said he believes that governments use the lengthy appeal process to slow the release of unflattering information.

“Anyone in government knows the freedom of information system can easily be played through the exemptions and loopholes and complaint process to drag out and keep things secret for two, three years — even longer,” he said.

One of the documents the government fought for almost two years to keep secret is a grainy cellphone photograph of an outdated schedule for the completion of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.

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Parts of the schedule are illegible in the image, which Verster emailed to Sackville in the spring of 2023.

The schedule, titled “T- Schedule,” looks to be a draft from June 15, 2023. At the bottom of the schedule, one line is titled “final occupancy,” which appears to indicate completion of the project. The date listed is Sept. 12, 2023.

A spokesperson for Metrolinx said the final occupancy would be a key milestone but does not necessarily indicate a full opening of the line.

“Construction partners set target schedules for their work, however the outcomes of testing and commissioning ultimately decide an opening date,” they said in a statement.

The government has recently said it is hoping the Eglinton Crosstown LRT will be open in September 2025. Two years after the date listed in the draft document.

In order to block the release of the schedule, Ontario argued that making the image public could harm the economy. The adjudicator who ordered its release disagreed.

“I note that the proposed schedule at page 70 of record 1 is from 2023 and it has been well known for many years that the ECLRT opening is behind schedule,” the adjudicator’s decision said.

“I have no evidence that the publicly available information about the delayed opening of the ECLRT has hindered Cabinet Office or Metrolinx in their ability to enter contracts for other transit projects.”

James Turk, the director of the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University, said the long fight to withhold the documents was indicative of the government’s approach to sharing information.

“It’s fairly consistently a government that is opposed to any reasonable standard of transparency,” he said. “It often will claim differently, but when you look at its actions — there are untold media requests for information that are obstructed or denied or obfuscated.”

The second document released to Global News through the appeal appears to be a similarly mundane email from Verster to Sackville.

The communication is dated April 21, 2023, with the subject line, “Unforeseen structural stuff at Hudson Bay store.” It was sent by Verster to a number of high-ranking officials, including Sackville, the chief of staff at transportation and Ontario’s top civil servant.

“Just to give you a real and practical sense of why these transit projects has (sic) so much unpredictability,” Verster wrote.

He attached a series of photographs showing that tunnelling operations for the Ontario Line around Bay and Queen streets in Toronto had encountered issues. Specifically, he raised concerns about a false floor holding up the sidewalk outside the Hudson Bay Store.

“We have paused work to ensure the pavement (see pdf) stays in place and will now find a new way to support the pavement and continue excavation,” he added.

Releasing that email — the government and Metrolinx had argued — could also come with economic repercussions. The adjudicator rejected the claim.

“Neither Cabinet Office nor Metrolinx have provided sufficient evidence to show how the actual information in the email in record 2 or the specific details in the attached photographs… could reasonably be expected be injurious to the financial interests of the Government of Ontario or the ability of the Government of Ontario to manage the economy of Ontario,” the adjudicator wrote.

Conacher, who reviewed the documents, said they should have been released two years ago, without the need for an appeal.

“I don’t see a reason why they would have been redacted because they’re just showing information about a delayed construction project and some reasons for the delay,” he said, “which is information the public has a right to know.”

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