PETITION

TO: The Legislative Assembly of Ontario WHEREAS, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC) was created by the Province of Ontario to be responsible for the legislation governing both privacy and freedom of information (including MFIPPA, FIPPA, PHIPPA) and the duties under these Acts for the purpose of providing good government with respect to those matters and to maintain the public interest. WHEREAS, the legislative assembly of Ontario appoints the Commissioner of the IPC and the Commissioner is, in turn, responsible for maintaining good governance with regards to the IPC and maintaining enforcement of the legislation and the processes and the rule of law that governs freedom of information and privacy in Ontario. WHEREAS, subsequent to the appointment of the Commissioner, the Legislative Assembly maintains no process for irregularities or substandard and unreasonable actions by the Commissioner in carrying out her responsibilities of good governance of the IPC. WHEREAS, we the people and taxpayers of Ontario have a right to expect responsible, fair, accountable and transparent processes of government to enable the proper functioning of accountability and transparency legislation and specifically proper governance of freedom of information and real enforcement of legislated privacy standards by the IPC. WHEREAS, the circumstances of the improper administration and good governance of the IPC create mistrust and doubt in the general public concerning the proper accountability of government as it relates to the improper administration of freedom of information and privacy in Ontario. WHEREAS, the proper processes of good government have manifestly failed in fundamental ways that include the timely release of information in the public interest and democracy is, in those instances, no longer functioning properly to ensure protection of the best interests of the citizens of Ontario, and this in part due to improper accountability and denial of access to records that should properly be released in the interest of the public. WHEREAS, the IPC hinders the release of records by unreasonably delaying significant decisions for many years when the spirit of the legislation is expediency measured in a 30 day time frame, causing a significant detriment to the process of transparency and accountability of government. WHEREAS, there are many known circumstances involving improper and biased IPC decisions and decisions where incorrect standards are applied and where the response from the IPC requires that Ontarios citizens take the matter to the regular courts not practically available to many people in Ontario, ultimately leaving people with no recourse for obtaining records rightfully accessible, and WHEREAS, the numerous municipalities customarily exceed the time lines outlined in relevant legislation and customarily deny records, relying, it would appear, on further protection by the improper processes of the IPC. WHEREAS, in the circumstance where institutions continually and without regard breach MFIPPA, FIPPA and to a lesser degree, PHIPPA, the IPC refuses to apply sanctions properly available under the legislation to protect the public interest. WE, the taxpayers and citizens of Ontario exercise our right and petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to remove the current Commissioner from the IPC and immediately to intervene by appointing an interim Supervisor to properly carry out the duties of the Commissioner and properly enforce the processes of the IPC. Further we seek a resolution of the Legislative Assembly to strike an all-party Committee to review the existing legislation and create a sustainable process of enforcement for freedom of information and privacy accountability for government institutions in order to restore public confidence.

I support this petition and sign my signature to it. Name (printed) Address (printed) Signature