The clock changed. The search didn’t.

For decades, the number every Ontario clerk knew by heart was 30: thirty calendar days to answer a request under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. On 1 July 2026, amendments passed as Bill 97 changed it to 45 business days, roughly nine weeks.

It’s tempting to read that as breathing room. It’s better read as an admission of how long the work really takes, and most of that work is finding things.

Where the time actually goes

The legal analysis of a request is often the shorter part. The longer part is the search: which box holds the 1998 building permit, whether the plans were filed with it, whether a second copy sits in another department. Paper doesn’t answer a keyword. Someone has to walk to it.

The amendments also add tools that reward good records. Institutions can propose a staged plan for large requests, and a second time extension is possible in set circumstances. An extension must be explained in writing, and a requester can appeal it to the Information and Privacy Commissioner. “We couldn’t find it in time” is not a strong reason.

Forty-five business days is generous for a search. It’s short for a scavenger hunt.

Three habits that keep the clock honest

Know what you hold and where. A simple map of record types, such as permits, planning files, council records and property files, and where each one lives, saves the first days of every search.

Index the way requests arrive. People ask by address, roll number, permit number or name, so those are the fields to index.

Digitize the most-requested series first. Old permit files and plans usually top the list. Once searchable, a two-day search becomes a two-minute one.

The real point

The new deadline gives clerks a fairer clock. Searchable records let you spend that time on judgment rather than on boxes, and that serves the public the act was written for.

General guidance only, not legal or regulatory advice.