It’s becoming clear that changing a government doesn’t really change much of anything in some areas.
Slapdash disregard for the rules about official emails and rampant cheating on freedom-of-information requirements are two of them.
It’s mostly an in-house issue. Few people likely pay much attention to the boring details about what officials are supposed to do with their mail, what they should keep and what they can delete. Interest diminishes every metre away you get from the legislative precinct.
But the tiny subset who tune into this arcane little sidebar to the grander narrative realized something over the past week. It’s a story without end. The skulduggery (or sloppy carelessness, depending on your viewpoint) seems to be a permanent feature, no matter who’s in power.
Those who thought the arguments over deleted emails and nonsensical “no records” responses to FOI requests would die down once the B.C. Liberal triple-deleters were themselves deleted, learned something this week. The game is by no means over.
New Democrats who preached solemnly about the sanctity of ministerial records while attacking Liberals for hiding stuff are just as good at protecting themselves from scrutiny as the Liberals were.
And the Liberals, once the grandmasters at scrubbing the historical record, have quickly learned to mount impressive displays of outrage — over how good their opponents are at their old tactics.
The teams have just changed places.
The realization started dawning when Citizens’ Services Minister Jinny Sims (who happens to be responsible for FOI compliance) took a star turn in question period to admit she was using personal email for government business.
She gave a limited admission and stressed it was only for innocuous forwarding of articles and that mail from the personal account was copied to the government servers and everything is fine. The opposition started dwelling on the gaping holes in her explanation. If it was just innocuous mail, why were huge chunks of her mail severed when FOI requests to see them were filed?
“I never mind apologizing,” said the minister. “I should not have used my personal email. I’ll be more diligent in the future. But … those emails were transferred to a government server … that’s why you have them.”
The story took another turn, when FOI responses showed that some six-figure-salaried officials in the premier’s office were miraculously running the province without sending any emails.
Routine requests to check their mail came back with the familiar old dodge: “No records.”
Horgan said any problems were “largely in the early days of their employment.”
“Steps have been taken since then to ensure that all members have appropriate document-disposal practices in place. Those records do exist on servers, if the member wants to go looking for them, and I’m sure he’ll do that.”
In other words: “Go fish.”
The explanation didn’t clarify why Liberals got skunked when they did just that with Advanced Education Minister Melanie Mark’s messages. “Although a thorough search was conducted, no records were located.” (One interesting detail; Mark said she has a “Nisga’a Warrior Princess” personal email.)
Mark assured reporters her mail was all retained and preserved, but ignored the point that it’s still secret.
There was a telling moment during that argument when Sims tried to offload any blame to the deputy ministers. She said ministers’ records are mostly their deputies’ responsibility.
But the government’s general stance was getting so absurd the NDP had to start backing down.
Sims said: “Best practices may not have been followed … we have taken proactive steps to address it and comply with the rules.”
By Wednesday, they were randomly releasing bits and pieces, as if having communications officers sending fragments to reporters was a way to comply with FOI law. Mark found three emails improperly suppressed that she offered to anyone interested.
By week’s end, they were in retreat. Premier John Horgan said he’s disappointed his government isn’t meeting the standard. (He’s likely not very enchanted with his ministers’ performance on the issue, either.)
He’ll have more to say when the house resumes next week, after a break.
In the meantime, his senior staff are having another go at impressing on ministers and staff the simple advice that’s in the manual they all got.
When a request for information comes in: “Search diligently for any records. Do not try to play games.”
