POLICY ANALYSIS
FOI · FIPPA · Bill 97 PASSED Apr 23, 2026The policy behind the numbers
67,509 children are waiting while accountability mechanisms are being narrowed — transparency is the first line of defence.
Registered
88,175Children registered
Total in the Ontario Autism Program queue
CBC FOI Jan 2026
Funded
20,666Have active funding
Just 23.4% of registered children
CBC FOI Jan 2026
Waiting
67,509Still waiting
Registered. Diagnosed. Un-funded.
CBC FOI Jan 2026
Verified — CBC FOI Jan 2026
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Children registered | 88,175 |
| Have active funding | 20,666 |
| Still waiting | 67,509 |
1988
FIPPA takes effect in Ontario — gives the public a right to request government records, including ministerial records.
2019
Ontario government restructures the Ontario Autism Program. AccessOAP consortium (led by Accerta Services Inc.) is contracted to handle registration, intake, and care coordination.
July 2020
FAO publishes Autism Services — A Financial Review. Estimates $1.35-1.4 billion/year needed to clear the waitlist — more than double the $600M commitment.
June 2024
FAO publishes MCCSS Spending Plan Review. Finds the province set aside $3.7 billion less than needed to fund existing MCCSS programs from 2024-25 to 2026-27.
July 2024
The Trillium (Village Media) publishes MCCSS spending figures obtained through a FIPPA request. Data reveals $57.9M to AccessOAP and the full spending breakdown.
March 13, 2026
Ontario government announces proposed FIPPA amendments — would exempt ministerial records retroactively to 1988.
March 13, 2026
IPC Commissioner Patricia Kosseim publishes formal statement: "This amendment is about hiding government-related business to evade public accountability."
March 26, 2026
Bill 97 (Plan to Protect Ontario Act) introduced as omnibus budget legislation containing the FIPPA amendments. FIPPA changes "deemed in force" as of this date.
April 23, 2026
Bill 97 passes Third Reading by a 57–33 vote. FIPPA amendments now law. MFIPPA amendments scheduled to take effect July 1, 2026 (most provisions) and January 1, 2027 (others).
On March 13, 2026, the Ontario government announced proposed changes to FIPPA. The bill, to be introduced when the Legislature resumed on March 23, 2026, would remove records of the Premier, cabinet ministers, parliamentary assistants, and their offices from FIPPA's scope. Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement Stephen Crawford said the changes would bring Ontario “more closely in line with practices used in other jurisdictions across Canada.”
The government said Ontario is currently one of only two Canadian provinces — alongside Nova Scotia — that does not explicitly exclude ministerial records from freedom of information law. The government described the change as “modernizing Ontario's privacy protections.”
Government's stated position
The Ontario government has stated publicly that the proposed amendments would “strengthen cyber security, protect cabinet confidentiality and ensure responsible modern governance.” Minister Crawford stated the changes would bring Ontario in line with other Canadian jurisdictions. The government noted that government decisions communicated to the public service, including formal direction from ministers, would continue to be subject to access rules. (Source: Ontario government news release and Minister Crawford's public remarks, March 13, 2026, as reported by CBC News.)
Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner, Patricia Kosseim, published a formal statement on March 13, 2026. That statement is available in full on the IPC's website. It is a public document by an independent officer of the Ontario Legislature.
“This amendment is about hiding government-related business to evade public accountability.”
In the same statement, Commissioner Kosseim pointed out that FIPPA already protects personal, confidential, and constituency records from being released. She said the proposed change goes further — it would also exclude government-related business records held by elected officials and their staff.
The IPC's statement raised three additional concerns. First, the changes would apply retroactively to 1988— the year FIPPA took effect. Nearly four decades of government records would be placed outside FIPPA's reach. Second, the bill would weaken the IPC's oversight of FIPPA's data-linking rules, which allow the government to connect personal records across departments, including health information. The IPC called this “an inherent conflict of interest that seriously weakens accountability.” Third, the bill would let government employees carry email accounts containing personal information when they change ministries. The IPC said this “increases the risk of privacy breaches exponentially.”
Commissioner Kosseim also published an opinion piece in The Globe and Mailon March 16, 2026, titled “Ontario steps back into the information dark ages,” further elaborating on the constitutional and democratic implications of the proposed changes.
Political responses
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said publicly she would reverse these changes. The Ontario Liberal Party also promised to undo the amendments. Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner called the proposal “changing the rules to make it easier to hide the truth.” The current Ontario government holds a majority in the Ontario Legislature. (Source: Village Report, CBC News, March 2026.)
The Ontario Autism Program spent an estimated $691.2M in 2023-24. Of this, $307.3M (44.5%) went to core clinical services — the therapy funding that 67,509 children are waiting for. The remaining 55.5% funded intake operations ($57.9M), legacy programs ($104.0M), and other components.
The public spending data that made this analysis possible was obtained through a Freedom of Information request filed by The Trillium (Village Media) to MCCSS. That request went to the ministry — a FIPPA institution — and succeeded.
Under the proposed FIPPA changes, decisions about program design, who gets the contract, and how the budget is divided — if discussed or documented in the minister's office — would no longer be available through FIPPA, even when they involve hundreds of millions of dollars in public money.
Meanwhile, the internal records of AccessOAP — how the $57.9M is divided among partners, operational decisions, staffing models — are already beyond FIPPA's reach because AccessOAP is not a government institution. The accountability chain has gaps at both ends.
For the full spending breakdown, see: Where Does the Money Go? — OAP Spending Analysis
The Ontario government has cited alignment with other provinces as a reason for the proposed changes. Here is how Canadian jurisdictions currently handle ministerial records in their freedom of information laws.
| Jurisdiction | Ministerial Records in FOI? | Law |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario (current) | Yes | FIPPA, R.S.O. 1990, c. F.31 |
| Ontario (proposed) | No — exempt retroactive to 1988 | Bill TBD, March 2026 |
| Federal | No — ministerial offices excluded | Access to Information Act |
| British Columbia | Partial — policy records yes, constituency no | FOIPPA |
| Quebec | No — ministerial records excluded | Act respecting Access |
| Alberta | No — ministerial offices excluded | FOIP Act |
| Nova Scotia | Yes | FOIPOP Act |
Note: This table summarizes the general scope of each jurisdiction's FOI law as it relates to ministerial offices. Specific exemptions and exceptions vary. The characterizations reflect each law's provisions as of March 2026. Sources: FIPPA, R.S.O. 1990, c. F.31; Access to Information Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. A-1; FOIPPA (B.C.); Act respecting Access (Quebec); FOIP Act (Alberta); FOIPOP Act (Nova Scotia); IPC Commissioner statement comparing Ontario to other jurisdictions, March 13, 2026; Minister Crawford's public remarks on jurisdictional alignment.
Bill 97 (Plan to Protect Ontario Act) passed Third Reading on April 23, 2026 by a 57–33 vote. The FIPPA amendments remove records of the Premier, cabinet ministers, parliamentary assistants, and their offices from FIPPA's scope and apply retroactively to 1988. Minister Stephen Crawford said the changes would bring Ontario 'more closely in line with practices used in other jurisdictions across Canada.' MFIPPA amendments take effect on a staggered schedule: July 1, 2026 (most provisions) and January 1, 2027 (others).
Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner Patricia Kosseim publicly opposed the changes, calling them "about hiding government-related business to evade public accountability." Her March 13, 2026 statement noted that FIPPA already protects personal, confidential, and constituency records, and that the changes go further by excluding government-related business records held by elected officials and their staff. The IPC has formally responded to MPP Marit Stiles's request to investigate.
The Ontario Autism Program spent an estimated $691.2M in 2023-24, with $57.9M going to AccessOAP. AccessOAP's internal records are already outside FIPPA. If ministerial decisions about program design and contracts are also exempted, the public loses visibility at both ends of the accountability chain.
FIPPA (R.S.O. 1990, c. F.31) gives the public a right to request records held by Ontario government 'institutions' — meaning provincial ministries and certain agencies, boards, and commissions. Private organizations that receive government funding are not automatically covered.
Most Canadian jurisdictions exclude ministerial offices from FOI laws. The federal government, Quebec, and Alberta all exclude ministerial records. British Columbia partially excludes them. Ontario and Nova Scotia were the only two that did not explicitly exclude them — Ontario's Bill 97 (passed April 23, 2026) changed this. Nova Scotia is now the only Canadian province that still allows public access to ministerial records.
Delegated delivery is when a government contracts private organizations to run public programs. AccessOAP handles OAP registration, intake, and care coordination under a $57.9M/year contract. Because these organizations are not FIPPA institutions, their internal records are largely inaccessible through Ontario's transparency mechanisms.
As of March 2026, no published Auditor General performance audit has examined the OAP or AccessOAP. The FAO has published two reports analyzing program-level spending data from the ministry, but these do not audit the internal operations of organizations receiving government funding.
Yes. The Bill 97 amendments apply retroactively to 1988 — the year FIPPA took effect. With Bill 97 having passed on April 23, 2026, nearly four decades of government records are now outside FIPPA's reach. The IPC Commissioner noted this in opposition to the changes. The IPC also flagged that the government was trying to appeal a court ruling that upheld the IPC's order for the Premier's office to produce call logs from the Premier's personal cellphone relating to government business. (Source: Lerners LLP analysis of Bill 97; IPC Commissioner statement, March 13, 2026, ipc.on.ca.)
This analysis focuses on structural accountability gaps in Ontario's freedom of information framework as they relate to publicly funded autism services. It does not allege that AccessOAP, Accerta Services Inc., Serefin, Autism Ontario, McMaster University, or any other individual, political party, or organization has acted improperly, misused public funds, or failed to deliver on contractual obligations.
The Ontario government's stated reasons for the proposed FIPPA amendments are presented in full above. This analysis includes all three opposition parties' published positions. Readers are encouraged to consult the original government news release, the IPC Commissioner's full statement, and the referenced news reports directly.
Accountability is not adversarial. Effective transparency mechanisms serve well-run programs as much as they expose poorly-run ones — by providing independent validation that public money is being well spent and public trust is being earned.
End The Wait Ontario is committed to factual accuracy. If any figure, attribution, legal citation, or characterization in this analysis is inaccurate, we will correct it promptly and publish a dated note of correction. Organizations and individuals referenced in this analysis are invited to contact us with corrections, clarifications, or responses, which we will publish in full or in relevant part.
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No corrections have been issued as of March 21, 2026.
© 2026 End The Wait Ontario. This analysis is published as fair comment on a matter of public interest, based entirely on public records, government documents, published statements by independent officers of the Ontario Legislature, and organizations' own published materials. All data is sourced and cited. No allegation of wrongdoing, fraud, impropriety, or breach of contract is made or implied against any individual, organization, or government entity. The policy questions raised are presented for democratic deliberation, not as conclusions. Reproduction is permitted with attribution and a link to this page.
Verified Facts
88,175 — children are registered in the Ontario Autism Program
According to the FAO (2020 report), OAP funding covers less than one-third of estimated need at 2018-19 service levels
$965M — Ontario allocated to the Ontario Autism Program in 2026-27
23.4% — Only 20,666 children have active funding agreements () — less than one in four
WHO recommends accessible, community-based early interventions for children with autism — timely evidence-based psychosocial interventions improve communication and social engagement