RadioActive wrote:

It took a long time to pare the politics from SOWNY. This one at least addresses the topic directly, but let's keep it from going too far. I absolutely do not want to go through this argument all over again. 

I don't want make RA's life any harder, but let me point out that one of Tina's last stories surrounded the impending move by Doug Ford to block the court decision to let the news media gain access to his phone records through the Freedom of Information Act.

The news has already noted that he is not allowed to conduct government business on his personal phone for precisely the reason that it allows for a politician to be engaged in sordid and potentially criminal activities. Using a sanctioned government phone is required and provides transparency on what the premier and his office are up to. He seems adamant on ignoring this and blocking access to what conversations have already transpired in the past by including a provision in his new budget that is RETROACTIVE to stop FOI in its tracks.

Now, today, he's called for a late-night sitting to ram through his budget, and make it law before this week ends. That would put an end to the court's ruling completely. And you know, I've never seen this government rush something out the door this fast, including bypassing public hearings which are the norm, and scheduling it this late at night just to avoid the usual media scrutiny. Here's Lisa Gretzky from her Instagram page:

Doug Ford has just scheduled late night sittings to ram through a law that would permanently hide government records from the public. They’re doing this in the middle of the night hoping no one notices. Doug Ford uses his cell phone for government business. The Court ordered him to release his phone records. So now, he’s changing the law so he never has to.

Here’s what he’s proposing: to permanently exempt himself, his cabinet, and their offices from Freedom of Information laws.

No journalist, no opposition party, no ordinary person would ever be able to request records from the Premier’s office again.

And because the change would be retroactive - every request already filed gets buried. Including the court-ordered release of his personal phone records.

This is exactly the sort of thing that Tina was investigating: Ford's corruption, hiding his activities from public and media scrutiny, funneling money for one intended purpose (tariff relief) into private slush funds. Colin DiMello's story today on Global News showed that even when the premier's office does release documents through FOI requests, they are so heavily redacted that they are useless for learning anything.  And yes, there was going to be FOI requests to learn more about Ford's "gravy plane" purchase and just whether or not he really got all the money that was paid back (taking him at his word is not going to cut it).

Colin DiMello is, quite frankly, the only reporter now left that seems to still try as hard as Tina to hold the province to account. Richard Southern was taken off the TV airwaves, Jon Woodward now mostly does non-political investigations (he did a brilliant story on Mr X last year), and Tina has been fired. No offense to Siobhan Morris at CTV, her coverage has been fairly lightweight compared to the others.

I would expect that Tina will eventually write about her side of the story and that she is probably seeking legal advice first to avoid being sued by Rogers or the Ford government.

 

Because Richard Southern will never go on maternity leave.

RadioActive wrote:

Ford urged to apologize after saying MPP only in legislature because 'CP24 didn't want her'

It’s all good BE, I understood and I agree with you.

I wish Tina all the best!