Doug Ford’s chief of staff ‘missing’ months of government texts after phone was ‘reset’

A top aide to Ontario Premier Doug Ford is facing questions about how he manages sensitive government records after he traded in his cellphone without fully backing it up, Global News can reveal, meaning months of text messages related to official government business are now considered “missing.”

The government has been engaged in a months-long freedom of information appeal with Global News over text conversations between Ford’s chief of staff Patrick Sackville and Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster.

Records from Verster show intermittent text messages in the first half of 2023 between the two officials, spanning everything from advice to government to holiday greetings and emojis.

While Verster had submitted his side of the digital conversations, as part of a freedom of information request, Sackville had no records of those same text messages.

Government lawyers later acknowledged that Sackville had been using his personal iPhone to communicate with Verster in text messages which Metrolinx’s privacy officials considered sensitive.

That phone, according to government lawyers, was not adequately backed up by Sackville and was traded in during December 2023 before being “reset” by a third-party vendor.

As a result, months’ worth of texts — at least some of which represent government records — are now considered to be “missing data” and cannot be retrieved, according to the province.

“When Mr. Sackville changed his old device to a new one, the text messages stored physically in his old phone were not transferred over to the new because they were not on Mr. Sackville’s iCloud account but rather, physically on the old phone,” the government said in its submissions to the Information and Privacy Commissioner.

“Mr. Sackville advises that he was unaware that all of his phone data would not be transferred over and that he did not notice the missing data until much later after the transfer.”

The missing messages, lost when Sackville traded in his phone in December 2023, also cover a period of time when multiple investigations into the government’s Greenbelt scandal were getting underway.

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the revelation was deeply concerning and raised questions about how much data, and how many government conversations, could have been lost.

“This is very serious — you are not allowed to destroy government records like that, you’re not allowed to, they’re supposed to be maintained,” she said. “Cabinet office knows this, and the premier’s office sure as hell knows this. The chief of staff had to know that.”

The premier’s office reiterated the messages were lost by accident.

“This was an inadvertent error; however, it is important to note that the records in question are reflected in identical corresponding records,” a spokesperson for the premier’s office told Global News.

Global News became aware of Sackville’s missing messages after filing identical freedom of information requests with the Ford government and Metrolinx for texts and emails between Sackville and Verster from January to late July 2023.

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In response to the request, Verster handed over pages of text conversations with Sackville.

The vast majority of Verster’s texts with Sackville were redacted because Metrolinx privacy officials deemed their contents to be advice to government, discussions related to cabinet or solicitor-client privilege. Releasing other texts could have harmed the economic interests of Ontario, officials claimed.

While Verster had pages of texts, Sackville failed to disclose any.

Cabinet Office, which handles privacy requests for the premier’s office, said the chief of staff was asked to search his phone for texts and added “that he has texts with Mr. Verster that pre-date the specific timeframe of this request” but none for the first half of 2023.

Sackville, officials said, had “changed his phone in the last year” and, as a result, “data that he previously had was not transferred to the new phone.”

The government initially said it would “continue efforts to see if data can be retrieved” but later admitted that “ITS staff concluded that there is no longer a way to retrieve the text messages stored physically on the old device.”

Cabinet Office confirmed Sackville had been speaking to Verster about government issues using his personal phone, a device he failed to fully back up and eventually traded in.

After Global News filed an appeal through the Information and Privacy Commission, Sackville was called into a meeting with senior IT officials and a government lawyer to work out how to “locate any lost data” on his phone.

Sackville said he had changed his phone in December 2023 and, as part of buying a new one, “the vendor transferred his existing data between his old iPhone and his new iPhone.”

When the transfer took place, however, Sackville’s iCloud account — used to back up data — was full and texts were not transferred. The government said all Sackville’s texts from January to July were not transferred from the old phone and are “missing.”

“ITS staff further advised that when an iCloud account reaches capacity, it is unable to store additional information,” government lawyers wrote.

“Accordingly, ITS staff also confirmed that once an iPhone stops backing up data into iCloud, there is no way to retrieve them except from the sending or receiving phone.”

Cabinet Office said Sackville “was not aware” that his data, including at least six months of texts, had not been transferred. He said he was “not aware of how data would be transferred and expected that all data would be transferred.”

The “missing data” also cannot be recovered from the original phone, according to the government, because Sackville gave his old, not-fully-backed-up device back to the company he bought his new one from.

“Mr. Sackville advises that he traded in his old iPhone with the vendor who transferred his account data from the old iPhone to the new iPhone,” government lawyers wrote.

“He subsequently made inquiries with the vendor as to whether the old device could be retrieved but was advised that the phone would have been reset upon receipt and was not available to be retrieved.”

The government said Sackville “did not intend” for the texts not to transfer and said the loss was “regrettable but inadvertent,” in its written submissions.

“Based on the meeting with ITS staff, steps are also being taken to ensure that Mr. Sackville’s iCloud backup account has expanded storage capacity to ensure data is backed up,” government lawyers wrote.

The conversations not transferred from Sackville’s previous device, including his discussions with Verster, cover early 2023 and into the summer of last year.

In early January 2023, Ontario Provincial Police began conducting interviews relating to the decision to remove land from the Greenbelt to work out whether they would launch an investigation. The RCMP began a probe that is still ongoing.

Between March and August 2023, the province’s integrity commissioner conducted interviews, including with Sackville, that shaped his Greenbelt investigation.

“This covers a period, of course, that tracks the Greenbelt investigation that the RCMP are undertaking, as well as many other scandals that the government has been involved in,” Marit Stiles told Global News.

The NDP Leader said she wasn’t convinced by Sackville and the government’s assertion the data was lost accidentally.

“Let’s remember that Mr. Sackville was the chief of staff to the premier and it defies belief that he wouldn’t know that you have to retain those records,” Stiles said.

“And we also know from past issues that we’ve all been digging around that Mr. Sackville regularly conducted government business on his personal device. So, the fact that these records have disappeared seems, I think you have to say probably intentional.”

Global News previously reported that Sackville used his private Gmail account for “political discussions,” including sharing documents, raising stakeholder concerns and drafting communication strategies.

“We know Mr. Sackville conducted government business on his personal devices, he had to know that he wasn’t supposed to be getting rid of those, that they would be destroyed that way,” Stiles said.

“Then you have to ask yourself: why did he need to disappear them?”

A number of questions presented to Sackville and the premier’s office went unanswered because, the government said, the matter was before the information and privacy commissioner.

The IPC process relating to Sackville’s texts had been settled days before the premier’s office responded.