The premier has accepted the lengthy list of recommendations aimed at firming up government transparency in the wake of the “triple-delete” email scandal – as if these were things that should have to be spelled out to begin with.
Somehow, we’ve allowed our politicians and bureaucrats to get into the misunderstanding that those emails were theirs to begin with. In the private sector, most everyone knows and accepts that their employer may read their work-related emails. We are Christy Clark and her staff’s employers and we’re entitled to have a look.
Among the recommendations: banning the triple-deletion of emails from government servers, creating penalties for anyone who destroys government info and forcing government to make a written record of major decisions.
The thought of punishment for deleting public information is nice but we say prevention is better than a remedy.
A far better system would be one that removes completely the ability to delete emails from politicians and their staff.
This comes as the executive director of the B.C. Liberal Party has stepped down to face criminal charges in Ontario for allegedly arranging the deletion of sensitive emails related to their ongoing gas plant scandal. Even if we do get new legislation, sadly, we don’t expect the stick-handling to change.
This severe allergy to transparency and accountability is something all levels of government across Canada have developed. There remains a motivation to stay one step ahead. That’s something legislation cannot fix.
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