From the BC Liberal government that brought us policy by Post-It comes news that a law will be introduced requiring bureaucrats to document key government decisions.
The irony verges on the transcendent.
It was the government’s own deeply entrenched culture of secrecy and avoidance of accountability that led to the triple-delete scandal in 2015, in which the practice of public servants routinely eliminating potentially embarrassing records to shield their political masters was revealed.
The probe that followed went even further, pulling back the curtain on the practice of avoiding creation of a ‘paper trail’ whenever possible. That involved conducting important government business by text, by personal email or verbal instruction, in a deliberate attempt to get around Freedom of Information laws.
Mike De Jong, the finance minister who introduced this week’s ‘duty to document’ bill, has said in the past he doesn’t even use email.
Smoke signals, Snapchat and burner phones don’t seem out of the question.
As critics point out, this week’s bill does little to change that. It is mostly discretionary and lacks any legal teeth.
The bigger problem is the political culture at the top which drives the apparent need for decision-making on the QT. Nobody is confused about what the correct course of action should be.
But as everything from Quick Wins to the latest revelations on party fundraising make apparent, transparency is the last thing this government or its supporters are really interested in.
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