Ontario's Premier Accountability Dashboard · Queen's Park Watch
Patrick Sackville
(former Ford Chief of Staff)
Patrick Sackville served as Doug Ford's Chief of Staff from late 2022 to early 2026. A Global News investigation found he used a personal Gmail account to conduct government business, including receiving an October 2022 email about the Greenbelt land removals from Ryan Amato with the subject line "special project – GB." He told the Integrity Commissioner he did not conduct government business on personal email — a claim directly contradicted by documented evidence. Nine cabinet documents from this period were found in unsecured Google Docs with no access tracking.
Connected Scandals
The Ford government buried amendments inside the 2026 Budget Bill that would permanently exempt the Premier, all cabinet ministers, and their staff from freedom-of-information requests — retroactive to 1988 — nullifying every pending FOI request and active court case, including those seeking Doug Ford's personal cellphone records and Greenbelt-related emails. Ontario's own privacy watchdog publicly called three of Ford's stated justifications factually incorrect.
As former Chief of Staff, Sackville's personal-account emails about the Greenbelt land removals are among the records subject to IPC proceedings. He told the Integrity Commissioner he did not use personal email for government business — a claim contradicted by documentary evidence uncovered by Global News. The retroactive FIPPA amendments would permanently shield those communications from public scrutiny.