Promises of transparency easily eroded
For British Columbians puzzling over triple-deleted government emails and constant criticism of provincial-government secrecy, it must be encouraging to see prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau’s pronouncements on the topic.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant,” he said during the campaign. “Liberals will shed new light on the government and ensure that it is focused on the people it is meant to serve. Together we can restore a sense of trust in our democracy. Greater openness and transparency are fundamental to accomplishing this.”
His campaign platform had specific promises to amend information law so most data are open by default.
“Transparent government is good government,” the party quoted him as proclaiming.
Those are heartening words from a new leader that should give fans of openness fresh hope.
Until you realize Stephen Harper took almost exactly the same stand before becoming prime minister.
“Transparency is the key to preventing scandal,” was the headline on an op-ed piece he penned in 2005 in the Montreal Gazette six months before becoming prime minister.
“Information is the lifeblood of a democracy. Without adequate access ... citizens and parliamentarians cannot make informed decisions, and incompetent or corrupt governance can be hidden under a cloak of secrecy.”
He said federal information law was “outdated, badly administered and open to abuse by officials who might wish to control or impede the flow of government-held records to the public.”
Ten years on, the piece is a bit jarring given the track record he set as a close-mouthed, secretive PM who put the federal government on lockdown as far as disseminating information is concerned.
You have to wonder if Premier Christy Clark isn’t setting up the same before-and-after picture. Early in her term as premier she announced some updates to information management and went to the trouble of posting her message on YouTube.
“I made a commitment to change and open up government. To me, open government is about a different way of communicating ... connecting the public to government in new and different ways.”
She’d done five town hall meetings by then and promised more. Some of the openness she promised has come to pass. Travel expenses are routinely published. Responses to FOI requests are routinely published for all to see. There’s an open data site now, although it’s more to do with analyzing statistics than divulging policy details.
But all those moves are overshadowed by persistent criticism about B.C. Liberal information management techniques.
Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham’s revelation last week about the triple-delete email caper — now in the hands of the RCMP — was just part of it. The commission also detailed how Clark’s deputy chief of staff permanently deleted almost all her emails in the course of her work, by claiming they were all just “transitory.”
How that came to light shows how hit-and-miss the FOI process is. Ask for the records from the sender and get nothing. Ask for the same records of other officials and get dozens of pages of emails, some of which are substantive documents, not “transitory” at all.
What also came to light is the staff member in the premier’s office responsible for rounding up all the requested emails keeps track of the progress on sticky notes. Then he throws the sticky notes away.
“Troubling,” was Denham’s verdict on that ploy.
She also looked into how cabinet minister Amrik Virk’s chief of staff turned up nothing when asked for his emails to the boss, which the report noted is incomprehensible. They found 20 when they went looking.
Monday, the NDP said they asked for three weeks’ worth of emails from one staff member, and got back three. Going another route, they determined 800 had been sent.
Denham urged so many changes the government had to hire former commissioner and former deputy attorney general David Loukidelis to come back and help implement them.
Political candidates talk so much about“openness and transparency” it becomes one run-on cliché. But holding to that heartfelt promise is a lot harder than just repeating it over and over again. Harper made that clear, and Clark’s government is proving it again.