It’s been 191 days since Doug Ford’s government answered a question from a Narwhal reporter. That hasn’t stopped us from holding the province to account.
Illustration: Kagan McLeod / The Narwhal
216 daysOur reporting in Ontario proves it’s true: when the government says less, people want to hear more. With an election upon us, we’ll keep digging.
The Doug Ford government’s worst-kept secret is out, and Ontarians will head to the polls on Feb. 27. In the backdrop of our discussions about the writ dropping, reporters Emma McIntosh and Fatima Syed have fashioned our bureau’s whiteboard into a tracker:
Days since the Ford government responded to questions:
Emma: 191
Fatima: 216
Those counts are as of today — and don’t include general statements, media scrums or the times the duo tracked ministers in the halls of Queen’s Park. The last time Emma got a response to her questions, it was from the Environment Ministry, on a warm July day last summer. For Fatima, it was the Energy Ministry, on a cloudy day last June.
Not answering questions is one way to kind of, sort of avoid information getting out. But not always. The Ford government’s dedication to a policy of saying less has bolstered Emma’s own dedication to freedom of information requests. “I would argue it has been far more fruitful than any statement they could have given me,” she told me. “So governments should be warned: ignoring our questions will only make us more determined to find the truth!” And it has borne fruit, over and over again — even as recently as this story we published today, about the feds warning Ontario may need to reroute Highway 413 to protect endangered species.
And reporters aren’t the only ones who are determined to find the truth.
In December, Fatima reported on a study commissioned by the Ford government (using taxpayer money) about the province’s energy supply in the future. The advice was clear: ease off the reliance on natural gas for power. And even though it appeared to have been widely shared within government agencies and departments (even touted as critical to Ontario’s energy planning), it was never released publicly. So how did Fatima catch wind of the study? Because a concerned source who had access shared it with her.
When the government says less, people want to hear more.
If it makes you feel any better (or worse), from talking to our colleagues across the country, this style of government secrecy appears to be gaining favour. Drew Anderson, our Prairies reporter, hasn’t been granted a question at any Alberta government press conferences since he started at The Narwhal more than three years ago (and yet, his weekly news roundups are reaching more readers in the province than ever before, keeping residents informed about government goings-on).
So as we blast into the election campaign in Ontario — and, well, the federal one, in case you hadn’t heard — we will continue asking questions, demanding transparency and finding answers however we can. The environment may not feature in every party’s platform, but sometimes it’s what they don’t say that says it all.
Take care and seek the truth,
Elaine Anselmi
Ontario bureau chief
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It’s been 191 days since Doug Ford’s government answered a question from a Narwhal reporter. That hasn’t stopped us from holding the province to account.
The land just outside the powwow arbour is filled with overgrown prairie grasses, patches of invasive plants and soil along the riverbank that is just...
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