It is evident the B.C. Liberal government has operated in a cloak of secrecy.
Premier Christy Clark and her various cabinet ministers can protest all day long, act indignant and vow to ensure MLAs and staff respect the commitment to open government so earnestly promised during the last election campaign.
The reality is this government’s actions render all those words pointless.
We just finished reading Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham’s scathing report that found various arms of government — including the premier’s own office — have deleted emails, withheld information requested or otherwise has acted in such a way as to deliberately not leave a paper trail.
Having just been torched by perhaps the most damning report during its time in power, we learn this week that the practise of leaving no information crumbs seems to have no boundaries.
When the Opposition NDP and the Vancouver Sun requested information — documents, emails, briefing notes, anything — related to the health-ministry firings scandal, they were told there were no records.
An employee who was fired later committed suicide and there is not a shred of any dialogue in government?
We echo NDP critic Katrine Conroy’s incredulity as stated on Tuesday in the legislature:
“So, the head of the public service didn’t have a single record over two years about the biggest human resources scandal in B.C. history. Forgive us if we find that a bit hard to swallow.”
A culture of delete and one in which government takes pains to not record anything is reflective of a government that has something to hide.
Does it?
–Kamloops This Week
