Ontario’s Ford government is using Google Docs to host policy proposals, cabinet remarks and briefing materials, Global News can reveal, raising questions about tracking and security of some of the province’s most sensitive documents.
New information disclosed during an ongoing freedom of information appeal shows staff within the premier’s office are using unsecured Google services to create or circulate official documents that the government argues disclose substantive debate in cabinet.
Documents drawn up as a result of cabinet meetings or in preparation for them are among the most closely guarded and sensitive in the province. Traditionally, they are managed through secure systems that track them to ensure they’re not hacked or leaked.
Confirmation that the current government appears to be bypassing this comes from lawyers in Ontario’s cabinet office, as they fight against the release of some nine documents to Global News. They claim that making them public would “reveal the substance of Cabinet deliberations or would permit the drawing of accurate inferences of such deliberations.”
The documents appear to be draft policies, stakeholder feedback, a policy roll-out plan and remarks prepared for Ford to deliver to his cabinet in 2023.
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the fact that sensitive government documents were being drafted or shared on personal Google accounts was a major security concern.
“I think there’s certainly questions and concerns about security — I think that would be the number one concern,” she said. “But I think what the public should also be concerned about is a culture of secrecy… if they are so concerned about protecting cabinet confidentiality, why are they using Gmail? They’re clearly not worried enough.”
The premier’s office said there were official versions of the information stored on Google Docs.
“Any information and content shared on collaborative platforms are reflected in official government documents,” they wrote in a statement.
Google accounts and sensitive documents
The use of Google documents and email instead of official, secure systems goes back years in the Ford government and was a key concern raised by the auditor general during the Greenbelt scandal.
The auditor general found staff had regularly used personal emails and devices to communicate over the land swap.
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Meanwhile, Premier Doug Ford uses his personal phone for government-related calls and is currently fighting a ruling by an Ontario court that he must release those records.
Ford’s chief of staff, Patrick Sackville, has also relied on his personal email account and phone to conduct government business. In 2024, Global News reported how Sackville regularly shared documents using his personal Gmail account.
At the time, the government defended the use of Gmail, saying corresponding records had been maintained on official systems.
Global News filed a freedom of information request for the Google Docs involving government policy. The request was denied, and the government declined to share any details of what the documents were.
Now, through an ongoing appeal of that freedom of information request, the province has been forced to disclose some details of what policy proposals are being shared outside of the official systems.
The government confirmed that at least nine government documents have been created or circulated in Google Docs. Four are draft policy proposals from the premier’s office created around the fall of 2022. Three more are a rollout plan, which “included the premier’s remarks made to cabinet during a cabinet meeting on Sept. 5, 2023.” Another two documents are research and feedback compiled by the premier’s office for a briefing involving senior staff in Ford’s inner circle and the civil service.
Officials argue the information in the documents relates to highly sensitive discussions between Ford and his ministers during cabinet meetings.
“Because these records were created as a result from direction provided by the premier during a cabinet meeting and were included in a future cabinet submission, disclosure of these records would provide accurate inference with respect to what was discussed at cabinet meetings,” officials wrote.
They added that two of the documents, which included a speech the premier made during cabinet, also detailed cabinet discussions.
“These remarks and direction were communicated to cabinet and as such, the disclosure of these records would reveal exactly what was discussed at a Cabinet meeting,” officials wrote.
Another record was described as “a central component of the deliberative process” in cabinet.
The premier’s office said the government had taken “positive steps” to address criticism from the auditor general.
“We will continue to comply with our obligations under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Archives and Recordkeeping Act,” a spokesperson wrote in a statement.
Concerns about security and influence
The secrecy of cabinet meetings is a key tenet of Ontario’s democratic system. Documents submitted to cabinet or discussions within it aren’t subject to usual disclosure rules and cabinet members are instructed to keep them secret.
The meetings are designed to be spaces for frank debate at the centre of government, where members are supposed to be free from fear of having their remarks made public or shared with stakeholders.
Originally, cabinet documents were printed, marked confidential and kept in carefully guarded binders. In the digital age, the government uses a sophisticated digital system to store the documents, which limits who can see them and watermarks when they’re downloaded or printed.
“You would never use an insecure way of transmitting those,” Ontario Liberal interim leader John Fraser said. “Often, they’re printed and put in binders — sometimes they’re put in electronic binders now — but they’re exceptionally secure.”
Google Docs does not contain features that would allow non-partisan officials to see when someone has opened a document, printed it or shared it.
“I’m sure they don’t want me looking at what the premier’s remarks are to cabinet,” Fraser added. “And it certainly wouldn’t be right for somebody who did a lot of business with the government to see that, or somebody who was lobbying for something. It’s just sloppy.”
Stiles said she was worried the government was deliberately using non-official channels to skirt accountability.
“Using private email addresses when the government and the premier himself know perfectly well they’re not supposed to indicates to me this is not a mistake, this is not a misstep,” she said.
“This is a consistent pattern of this government which is designed to keep some information out of public view.”
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