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Ontario’s freedom-of-information watchdog says a series of systemic issues in the provincial government’s handling of documents in the Greenbelt affair – including deleting e-mails and using codewords that make searches difficult – risks eroding public trust.

In her annual report issued on Thursday, Information and Privacy Commissioner Patricia Kosseim dedicates a separate 11-page section to access-to-information appeals related to the province’s aborted 2022 decision to develop parts of the protected Greenbelt area – a move under criminal investigation by the RCMP.

Ms. Kosseim cites previously publicized findings that she says together reveal “systemic themes,” including the potentially illegal deletion of e-mails by political staff found by the Auditor-General, the use of personal devices for government business and the adoption of “opaque codewords” in e-mails.

In all, the report says, there was a “near-total absence of decision-making documentation” for the Progressive Conservative government’s hurried move to select land for development in the ecologically sensitive zone, which arcs around the Greater Toronto Area – including little record of what was said in meetings involving Premier’s Office staff.

“Such issues, if left unaddressed, risk undermining government accountability and eroding public trust,” her report warns.

But the commissioner also says the government has since tightened procedures and beefed up training for staff on their recordkeeping obligations. She said these moves “signal positive movement toward compliance,” but that “ongoing oversight” is needed.

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In an e-mailed statement, Hannah Jensen, a spokeswoman for Premier Doug Ford, pointed to the changes the government has made and said it would “continue to comply” with Ontario’s freedom-of-information and recordkeeping laws.

The IPC adjudicates when journalists or researchers who have filed access-to-information requests for documents appeal a government decision on the release of those records. It has issued rulings in 19 such cases related to the Greenbelt, including one ordering the Premier to produce his personal cellphone records, which the government is challenging in court.

Mr. Ford’s Greenbelt plan, which broke his repeated promises not to touch the area, was withdrawn after reports in 2023 from the Auditor-General and the Integrity Commissioner concluded the decision was driven by political staff, not expert civil servants, and would have given a small group of connected landowners an $8.3-billion windfall in increased property values.

In an interview on Thursday, Ms. Kosseim said she has not had any contact with the RCMP as part of its Greenbelt probe.

The commissioner said it was surprising that searches for documents behind a decision as important as the Greenbelt changes would turn up so little, and that this kind of lack of documentation makes it impossible for the public to see how and why a decision is made.

“The obligations of transparency go straight to the heart of public trust,” Ms. Kosseim said.

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Her report also alludes to the IPC’s 2013 probe of the deletion of e-mails and records related to the then-Liberal government’s cancellation of two proposed natural-gas power plants, which later resulted in criminal charges and a four-month jail sentence for David Livingston, a former chief of staff to premier Dalton McGuinty.

“These lessons of more than a decade ago have come back full circle,” the report says, urging the government to do more to ensure it complies with its obligations to keep records.

In the case of the deleted Greenbelt e-mails, the IPC issued a pre-emptive order for the government to preserve or recover any relevant documents after the Auditor-General warned of the issue in her 2023 report. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing produced an affidavit outlining its efforts that satisfied the IPC adjudicator, the IPC report says.

Among the codewords some government staffers used in e-mails instead of “Greenbelt” was “G*,” which the IPC report says made it “virtually impossible to find relevant records,” as an asterisk placed there in text searches would return any word starting with the letter G.

Ms. Kosseim told The Globe that the IPC does not “impute any intention” to this use of codewords. But she said it frustrates searches for documents and was not a good practice.

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the Greenbelt’s hidden paper trails amplify her concerns over Ontario’s recently passed Bill 5, which would allow exemptions for favoured companies from provincial laws in designated “special economic zones” – and, she warned, open the potential for corruption.

“Previously, folks have gone to jail for the same issue,” she said in an interview, noting the Liberals’ gas plant scandal. “I hope going forward they’ve learned something.”

The RCMP did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the status of the Greenbelt investigation.