From: brewnoserii@gmail.com   
      
   Globe and Mail - October 23, 2015   
      
      
   Clark's open government promise a complete, utter sham   
      
   Deleted e-mails case is another example of institutionalized contempt for the   
   public's right to know what elected officials and civil servants are up to   
      
   If you thought there might be some angst inside B.C. Premier Christy Clark's   
   administration over a scathing report that revealed the extent to which   
   potentially incriminating information is regularly cleansed from the   
   government computer system, you    
   would be wrong.  Instead, the result of an investigation by the province's   
   Privacy Commissioner into this practice was mostly met by shrugs and smirks   
   initially.   
      
   Transportation Minister Todd Stone went so far as to suggest that he will   
   likely not stop the practice of "triple deleting" e-mails, a procedure that   
   permanently scrubs correspondence from the computer system.   And he suggested   
   that while Information    
   and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham might take a dim view of this   
   conduct, her interpretation of the province's information-access laws is not   
   shared by everyone.   
      
   She is only the Privacy Commissioner, after all.   What would she know?   
      
   Remarkable.   
      
   Ms. Denham was prompted to look into this area after a former Liberal   
   government staff member complained that a superior in the Transportation   
   Ministry office in which they worked took over his computer and triple-deleted   
   e-mails that were subject of an    
   access-to-information request - because he wouldn't.   
      
   In the course of her probe, the commissioner found that political aides   
   regularly flouted provincial information-access laws by either permanently   
   eradicating documents that should be kept or by not keeping any written (thus   
   retrievable) records of    
   correspondence related to government decisions.   
      
   On this front, the commissioner zeroed in on Ms. Clark's own office.  Ms.   
   Denham said the Premier's deputy chief of staff, Michele Cadario, erased   
   virtually all of her e-mails at the end of every day.   And there were others   
   in the Premier's Office just    
   as keen on eliminating any trace of sensitive and potentially politically   
   harmful material, she said.   
      
   The focus of the report, however, was a ministerial assistant in Mr. Stone's   
   office: George Gretes.   It was Mr. Gretes who is alleged to have grabbed the   
   keyboard of a junior aide in the office, Tim Duncan, and permanently removed   
   e-mails concerning    
   government meetings about the Highway of Tears investigation into murdered and   
   missing women.   
      
   Mr. Gretes made problems worse by admittedly lying to Privacy Commission   
   investigators, under oath, about his role in the matter.   He resigned this   
   week.   
      
   Ms. Denham, meantime, has referred Mr. Gretes's perjury admission to the RCMP,    
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
   given that it is a potentially criminal matter. The allegation has not been   
   tested in    
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
   court.   
      
   While there is certainly no excuse for not being truthful, I have some   
   sympathy for the 27-year-old Mr. Gretes.   Political staffers, most of whom   
   are young and impressionable, do what they're told or do as they're taught.     
   Otherwise, they are fired.      
   They often become easily expendable scapegoats and fall persons for any   
   contretemps.    
      
   I would suggest that Mr. Gretes knew that if he didn't get rid of those   
   e-mails, his superiors would be all over him for allowing them to get out; for   
   not doing something to get rid of them when he had the chance.   
      
   He also knew that getting rid of information that could become the target of   
   an access-to-information request was common practice.   As was triple-deleting   
   e-mails. His colleagues did it; heck, cabinet ministers did it.   
      
   Once upon a time, Ms. Clark campaigned on the promise to have the most open,   
   transparent government in the country.  We now know that was a complete and   
   utter sham, said for the benefit of a gullible public to get votes.    
      
   The government's record on this front is a disgrace.  This is not the first   
   time Ms. Denham has issued a report reprimanding the Clark administration for   
   its efforts to thwart information-access laws, nor will it likely be the last.   
      
   The sad fact is that what is happening in B.C. is happening in governments   
   across the country.  Important communication is kept away from the prying eyes   
   of the media and public; a lot of it is conducted via text message on private   
   phones, conversations    
   that are outside the grasp of freedom-of-information requests and are easy to   
   erase.   
      
   But the degree to which Ms. Clark's government avoided keeping records of   
   discussions around important decisions seems to be without equal.   
      
   On Friday, Ms. Clark issued a directive ordering all cabinet ministers and   
   staff to save their e-mails, at least until a government review of Ms.   
   Denham's findings can be completed.   She also said she expects those in   
   government to do their best to    
   follow the regulations of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy   
   Act.   
      
   I'm not holding my breath on that one.   
      
   Up until now, being transparent and open is a campaign promise Ms. Clark has   
   been unable to keep.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)