Three-Year Effort by Crown Lawyers to Keep Doug Ford’s Leaked Mandate Letters Secret Consumed 1,672 Hours of Taxpayer Resources

Over a span of three years, from July 2018 to July 2021, Crown lawyers in Ontario allocated 1,672 hours of taxpayer-funded resources to maintain the secrecy of Premier Doug Ford’s mandate letters, which have now been leaked. This amount equates to 209 full workdays or approximately 10 months of standard 40-hour workweeks.

Mandate letters traditionally outline the directives a premier gives to their ministers upon taking office, and they are typically released by governments across the country. However, the Ford administration took extensive measures to prevent the disclosure of the premier’s 2018 mandate letters, even appealing court orders to reveal these records up to the highest court in Canada. Despite these efforts, Global News reported on Monday that one of its reporters obtained a copy of all 23 of Ford’s 2018 mandate letters.

Until recently, the Ford government had also declined to disclose the number of hours spent by Crown lawyers on this case. Shortly before a June 20 judicial review hearing, the government withdrew its appeal against a decision from Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) ordering them to disclose this information. The government then provided the figure by email.

The government had argued in its application for judicial review that the Crown’s hours were protected by solicitor-client privilege and that revealing the total hours could divulge privileged information, such as litigation strategy for the mandate letters case.

Despite inquiries from CBC Toronto, the premier’s office has not indicated whether they are investigating the source of the leaked letters.

In response to questions about why they dropped the appeal, the government spokesperson stated that government lawyers are salaried employees and do not bill on an hourly basis. They added that the number of hours spent on this case is not unusual for a matter currently before the Supreme Court of Canada, which only deals with issues of significant public importance.

CBC reported that external lawyers billed them for 750 hours of work on the mandate letters case, which included appearances at both the Ontario Court of Appeal and Supreme Court hearings.

The saga began when CBC Toronto filed a freedom of information (FOI) request for Premier Doug Ford’s mandate letters to Cabinet ministers shortly after Ford’s election. The request was denied by the Ontario government, leading to a $25 appeal to the IPC, which subsequently ordered the government to release the mandate letters. The government then tasked Crown lawyers with appealing the IPC decision, taking the case to higher and higher levels of court, ultimately reaching the Supreme Court of Canada.

The 1,672 hours of Crown lawyer work covers the period from the initial FOI request in July 2018 to subsequent appeals to the IPC, the Divisional Court, and some submissions to the Ontario Court of Appeal. This timeframe ends in July 2021, prior to the hearing at the province’s highest court.

Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles criticized the government’s actions as a wasteful expenditure of resources and questioned what could have been achieved with the money spent. She characterized the situation as a “massive corruption crisis.”

It remains uncertain how many Crown lawyers were involved in the case and for how many of the 1,672 hours. However, it is known that Crown lawyers Judie Im and Nadia Laeeque were counsel for the province in the case as early as its judicial review court filings in early 2020. Both lawyers were included on Ontario’s Sunshine List, with Im earning approximately $229,000 per year and Laeeque’s annual salary ranging from $142,000 to $151,000 during the relevant period.

James Turk, director of the Centre of Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University, remarked that the 1,672 hours represented an astonishing amount of time and did not account for the work of lawyers’ staff or other government officials who advised counsel. Turk viewed this as an attempt by the government to avoid transparency, stating that it reflected a belief that the public does not have a right to know.

The mandate letter case revolves around the interpretation of the Cabinet records exemption in Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). This exemption excludes records that would “reveal the substance of deliberations of the executive council or its committee” from public disclosure. The outcome of the Supreme Court’s decision in this case could have a significant impact on future public access to information throughout Canada, extending beyond the context of Ford’s letters.

The Ontario privacy commissioner’s initial decision and all previous court rulings have supported a narrower interpretation of cabinet secrecy, distinguishing between deliberations and their outcomes. In contrast, Ontario’s interpretation is broader and could exempt any records related to topics discussed or potentially discussed by the cabinet in the future.

The Supreme Court’s justices seemed concerned about protecting cabinet confidences, maintaining cabinet secrecy conventions, and understanding the scope of the exemption in FIPPA during the spring hearing.

CBC emphasized their commitment to holding governments and organizations accountable through legal proceedings and noted strong public interest in their position. They await a final decision from the Supreme Court of Canada, viewing Global News’s possession of the letters as a positive development for public scrutiny of the government and its operations. A decision from the court is anticipated in the coming months.