Fact Check Me: Pass It Now, Fix It Later
When time becomes the loophole, accountability becomes optional
Doug Ford’s government just pushed through changes to Ontario’s Freedom of Information laws — changes widely seen as limiting access and shielding his office from scrutiny.
And let’s not pretend we don’t know what this is about.
Cell phone records. Internal communications. The kind of information that turns questions into answers.
Now, whether you support Ford or not isn’t the point.
Because this isn’t about one politician.
It’s about a system that allows this to happen in the first place.
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These changes are already being challenged.
Legal experts are lining up to say they may not hold up. That they could run into serious problems under constitutional scrutiny.
So here’s the obvious question:
If we already know that… why are they allowed to pass in the first place?
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In no other part of life do we operate like this.
You don’t build a bridge and then check if it can hold weight after people are already driving on it. You don’t release a product you know might fail and say, “We’ll deal with it if it breaks.”
But in government?
That’s exactly what we do.
Pass the law.
Let it take effect.
Wait for someone to challenge it.
Spend years in court.
Find out later if it should have existed at all.
And by then, the damage is already done.
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We’re told this is how democracy works.
Governments legislate. Courts review.
Fine.
But in practice, it creates a loophole — and that loophole is time.
Because time is power.
A government doesn’t need a law to survive a legal challenge.
It just needs it to exist long enough to do what it was designed to do.
Limit access. Delay transparency. Control the flow of information.
Even if the courts strike it down later, the outcome has already been achieved.
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And don’t tell me they don’t know.
Governments have lawyers. Constitutional experts. Entire teams whose job is to flag risks.
They know what’s likely to be challenged.
They know what’s pushing the limits.
But that’s not the real question being asked.
The real question is:
Can we get away with it long enough?
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We pretend the courts are a safety net.
But a safety net that takes years to catch you isn’t much of a safety net at all.
It’s cleanup.
Expensive, slow, reactive cleanup.
And while that cleanup is happening, the public is dealing with the consequences — less access, less transparency, less accountability.
All from a law that might not even survive.
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So let’s stop pretending this is just how the system has to work.
If we already know the courts are slow…
If we already know challenges take years…
If we already know damage happens in the meantime…
Then why are governments allowed to pass laws that might not even be legal?
Why is “we’ll find out later” an acceptable standard?
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No other system rewards you for doing it wrong first.
Except government.
Pass it now.
Hide what you need to hide.
Fight it later.
And move on like nothing happened.
And we’re supposed to call that accountability?