George Gretes, former aide to the transportation minister, was fined last week for lying to the B.C.’s information and privacy commissioner about his role in the triple delete email scandal.
Responding to a freedom of information request by deleting the requested emails wasn’t a crime, but lying about it was – and Gretes will pay $2,500 for his sin.
The province has already accepted recommendations from the commissioner on tightening up rules around transparency, like ending the practice of triple deleting emails. This a good first step, but the fact it was even necessary is a troubling sign.
So far, little has occurred to change the government culture of hiding from accountability. Even the whistleblower who sounded the alarm about the habit of triple deleting emails says Gretes was just the one who got caught.
Indications of the lengths government officials will take to avoid a paper trail are many.
Some have adopted a work-around policy of not writing down any sensitive information, or of transmitting such information through private email accounts and text messages.
Some senior bureaucrats have admitted to issuing instructions on Post-It notes.
Our provincial finance minister has claimed he does not even use email.
It’s difficult to imagine a government that makes sound, defensible decisions functioning this way, but it is what happens when political considerations trump interests in governing.
And exactly who is being kept in the dark?
That would be us, the public.
Accountability in the wake of this scandal has largely been missing.
The only person being penalized for this whole mess is one young staffer, when the reality is that concerns about accountability and transparency need to stop squarely at the desk of the person in charge – which is to say, the premier herself.
It’s up to British Columbians to decide whether they care enough to take the next course of action available to us all.
Which is, of course, that action we can take at the ballot box next May.
