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On Tuesday's live stream, Sheila Gunn Reid and Lise Merle reacted to Ontario Premier Doug Ford attempting to defend his government's controversial proposed changes to the province's Freedom of Information laws.

The proposed changes would exempt the premier's office, cabinet ministers, parliamentary assistants, and their staff from Freedom of Information requests.

The premier has cited outdated legislation, protecting cabinet confidentiality, enhancing cybersecurity, and safeguarding privacy as the core reasons for the proposed changes.

Ford also cited national security concerns from countries like China as justification for exempting himself and colleagues from Freedom of Information requests.

"We've gotta protect ourselves against the Communist Chinese that are infiltrating our country," he said during a recent press conference.

"We've gotta protect ourselves against the Communist Chinese that are infiltrating our country."

Doug Ford claims proposed changes to the province's Freedom of Information laws — exempting the premier's office and cabinet ministers from requests — are intended to be a… pic.twitter.com/2CB3vvMXWR

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) March 16, 2026

Lise condemned Ford for taking steps to hide information from the public. "Freedom of information means that the government is free to learn it as well Doug, and by siloing that information and keeping it out of the public purview, it will do no favours for either Doug Ford, his government, or the people of Ontario," she said.

"There should be no barriers between the public and the information that's produced by their elected officials or the bureaucracy. There should be no secrets between the public and the bureaucracy," Lise continued.

Sheila also criticized Ford's move to shield himself from scrutiny. "Governing the public using public dollars must be shown to be in public, that's it. Anything less is not accountability," she said.

Despite the premier's assertions of modernization, Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner has condemned the retroactive changes as a "shocking" attempt to evade accountability by shielding government business from public scrutiny.