TORONTO — 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.