General

Ontario government conspired to keep G20 law secret

Emails show Liberal officials wanted to keep public in the dark

Emails uncovered by Ontario Ombudsman André Marin show Ontario cabinet ministers fought to keep a special law enacted ahead of last June G20 summit secret. Senior officials were discussing withholding information about the changes to the Public Works Protection Act as early as June 7, nearly three weeks before the Toronto Star broke the news that police had purportedly been given additional powers to arrest people near the summit site. (Dalton McGuinty’s cabinet secretly approved the changes on June 2.) Moreover, a press release saying the new law “does not authorize police officers to require individuals to submit to searches on roads and sidewalks outside the zone,” was scrapped at the last minute by government officials because, according to Marin, there had only been one media call on the matter.

Toronto Star

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