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The ministry says most of the material is confidential because it contains cabinet records, involves advice to government, or involves solicitor-client privilege.

This newspaper will appeal the decision to hold back so much of the material laying out how an important public institution is run.

The decision comes against a background of growing secrecy at many levels of government.

“I think there has been a real shift under the Ford government … to really clam up and put everything under the blanket of cabinet confidentiality and policy advice,” said Ottawa researcher Ken Rubin, who often uses freedom of information requests.

He said another example is the Ontario Conservatives’ refusal to release mandate letters for its cabinet ministers.

“It is going backwards. It is not helpful to understand how ministers and departments that affect people are operating,” he said.

“We are not moving forward under the present Ford government in terms of basic ministerial document access.”

Rubin said summarizing an issue for government should not be confidential. There could be confidential sections, he said, such as where the bureaucracy recommends a particular action to the minister. But he said simply telling what the issue is all about should not be secret.

The ministry did release some sections:

• The ministry’s official mandate.

• A flow chart showing the organizational structure.

• Eight lined pages labelled “Minister’s notes,” where the incoming minister, Todd Smith, can write things down.