Hiding SECRETS? Doug Ford's Alarming Attack on Political Transparency with FOI Law Changes

March 20, 2026·49 min·4 clips

Former reporter Richard Brennan says Doug Ford is hiding something, comparing it to 'the Epstein file at a miniature level'.

1. The Bill Kelly Podcast examines Ontario Premier Doug Ford's proposed legislation to exempt the Premier's office, cabinet ministers, and their staff from Freedom of Information laws. 2. Host Bill Kelly interviews Richard Brennan, a former Queen's Park and Parliament Hill political reporter known as 'The Badger,' who spent decades digging for stories through FOI and source development. 3. The episode's central thesis is that the legislation is designed to protect Ford from the ongoing RCMP Greenbelt investigation and to shield his relationships with property developers from future scrutiny. 4. Brennan states directly that Ford 'has got something to hide' and compares the suppression of records to the Epstein files 'at a miniature level,' citing the RCMP investigation as the specific impetus. 5. Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement Minister Stephen Crawford defended the legislation on CBC, claiming the Ford government is 'one of the most transparent governments in the history of Ontario' — a claim Brennan calls 'bafflegab.' 6. The specific scope of the law: records of the Premier, cabinet ministers, parliamentary assistants, and all of their staff will no longer be subject to FOI requests, while civil servants in government ministries remain accessible. 7. Kelly explains the Greenbelt issue for listeners unfamiliar with Ontario politics: provincially protected environmentally sensitive land, largely immune to development, which Ford allegedly promised to open to developer friends in a secretly recorded private meeting. 8. Brennan confirms the RCMP — not the OPP, which he implies has closer ties to the government — is now conducting the active Greenbelt investigation, and expresses hope the investigation is nearly complete before the new law passes. 9. Ford introduced simultaneous populist measures — allowing people to carry pepper spray, relax HOV lane rules, and drink in public — which Brennan describes as diversion tactics to draw attention away from the FOI legislation. 10. Brennan draws the historical parallel: the Greenbelt story was only exposed because reporters had FOI access; without that initial evidentiary step, the RCMP investigation would never have started. 11. Brennan traces Ontario access restriction across 40 years: in the late 1970s, reporters called deputy ministers directly for background conversations; David Peterson allowed spontaneous scrums at the Queen's Park east door four times a day; each subsequent government — Rae, Harris, McGinty — tightened access further. 12. Kelly draws a parallel to investigative journalism precedents: Woodward and Bernstein at the Washington Post, the Pentagon Papers, and the McGinty-era investigation that led to criminal charges against government staff over renewable energy contracts. 13. Brennan dismisses Ford's stated rationale — that FOI would expose his personal medical records, financial advisor calls, and phone contacts — as a 'straw man,' noting those categories are already redacted by the Privacy Commissioner under existing law. 14. The episode identifies two structural problems with the legislation's concession that the Auditor General and Privacy Commissioner could still request records: investigations by those bodies require prior evidence of wrongdoing, and investigative reporters provide exactly that first layer of evidence. 15. Kelly notes that Ford's Ford government holds a 'super majority' in the Ontario legislature, meaning the legislation will pass regardless of opposition resistance. 16. Brennan describes developers as attendees at Ford's daughter's wedding — 'the place was chock-a-block with developers' — as evidence of an openly documented relationship, not a media fabrication. 17. Highway 413, the tunnel under Highway 401, and the Toronto waterfront land transfer to private investors for 50 years are cited as specific policy decisions where the 'who benefits' test points toward developer relationships. 18. The tone is adversarial and opinionated, with both hosts treating the legislation as self-evidently corrupt rather than presenting the government's defense fairly. 19. Listeners interested in Canadian provincial politics, press freedom, government accountability, and investigative journalism will find the episode substantive. 20. Listeners seeking balanced coverage or a defense of the government's position will find the framing entirely one-sided.

As heard by us

A blunt FOI fight that turns transparency talk back on the politicians saying it.

The episode treats Doug Ford's FOI changes as a direct test of transparency and accountability in Ontario. Bill Kelly stays focused on what FOI is meant to cover and answers the claim that the law would expose medical or personal records, noting those details are already off…

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Why you'd press play

You want a clear-eyed look at Ontario's transparency and accountability fight.

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