"More than 70 per cent of Ontario hospitals are forecasting deficits, and Health Minister Sylvia Jones has told them to come up with three-year plans to balance their budgets. Any "low risk" cost-saving moves with no or "minimal" front-line reductions should be made immediately, Jones' ministry told hospitals, and "high risk" moves with service impacts for patients should only be considered if all lower-risk options are exhausted."
"The Ministry of Health gave themselves a 90-day extension to turn over the records, until March 10, but that date came and went with no further word from its freedom-of-information office. Several requests for updates went unanswered. In the meantime, a bill to put the records of the premier, cabinet ministers and their staff outside of the reach of freedom-of-information requests became law, preventing future requests and also nullifying many requests actively being processed as the law is retroactive to 1988."
"Premier Doug Ford has said that part of the reasoning for the law is to prevent access to his cell phone records. Global News had sought to obtain those records through an FOI battle that will now be moot. But those are not the only records affected by the new law. The Trillium reported that the law cut off access to hundreds of records about the Greenbelt scandal, which saw Ford announce then reverse plans to open the protected lands to developers."
More than 70% of Ontario hospitals are forecasting deficits and are required to submit three-year plans to balance budgets. The Health Minister directed hospitals to implement low-risk cost-saving measures immediately, while high-risk options affecting patient services should be considered only after lower-risk alternatives are exhausted. A freedom-of-information request for documents from the minister’s office related to hospitals’ balancing plans was delayed and then left unanswered after a 90-day extension expired. A new law placed records of the premier, cabinet ministers, and their staff outside freedom-of-information access, retroactive to 1988, preventing future requests and nullifying many active ones. The law also affected requests tied to the Greenbelt scandal and cell phone records.
Read at www.cbc.ca
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