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| BC Premier Christy Clark |
Treatment of BC government whistleblower, watchdog's report all suggest culture of deceit.
Bill Tieleman’s 24
Hours Vancouver / The
Tyee column
Tuesday March 15, 2016
By Bill Tieleman
"In a
room where people unanimously maintain a conspiracy of silence, one word of
truth sounds like a pistol shot."
-
Czesław Miłosz, Nobel Prize-winning Polish poet 1911-2004
There is a
conspiracy of silence in B.C., not just in one room but across the political
staff of an entire government, all reporting to BC Liberal Premier Christy
Clark.
And when a
whistleblower spoke one word of truth about how senior officials, including
staff in the premier's own office, were "triple deleting" emails in
order to evade Freedom Of Information requests, the government tried to take a
shot at his reputation, reports say.
But last
week Tim Duncan was the only one left standing with his integrity intact after
his whistleblowing on widespread rule-breaking helped lead a special prosecutor
to file two charges
against George Gretes, formerly ministerial aide to Transportation Minister
Todd Stone.
Last week,
Duncan described the devastating impact of the government's portrayal of him
when the story broke.
"They
had accused me of lying, essentially. I'm telling the truth to the commission
and everybody else is saying he's a disgruntled employee, he's lying, he's
trying to make us look bad," Duncan told CKNW Radio's Shane Woodford in an
interview Friday.
"Any
employer I ever apply to for another job will read that, and had that been
allowed to stand, I mean, you are totally wrecking not only my ability to get
another job, you are just totally wrecking me," Duncan said.
"I've told the truth and every step of the way I've been proven
correct."
"And
they get paid to do this -- taxpayers are paying for them to do this,"
Duncan added.
Gretes is charged
with lying under oath when testifying in Information Commissioner Elizabeth
Denham's investigation into allegations he deliberately deleted emails related
to the Highway of Tears murder investigation to thwart a Freedom of Information
request. Duncan had attempted to follow the rules.
Gretes'
innocence or guilt will be determined
by a court in Victoria sometime after his first appearance April 20.
But we know
from Denham's resulting report, titled "Access Denied," that a
culture of deceit infected the way political staff in Clark's government dealt
with FOI laws.
Clark's
deputy chief of staff Michele Cadario was found to have regularly deleted
emails in apparent contravention of clear rules and guidelines to preserve
government communications, with Denham finding that Cadario had almost no email
records over a two-year period. Stone said he had also routinely been
triple-deleting emails.
Denham found
that the Premier's Office, the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of
Advanced Education had all "contravened" their duties under FOI
legislation.
But Duncan
is not convinced anything has changed since he blew the whistle on rampant
wrongdoing.
"It is
absolutely mandatory you have integrity in a top level of government. There is
none out there. There is none in Victoria. Anyone who thinks there is, is
delusional," Duncan told CKNW.
Integrity
besieged
Indeed,
integrity is more besieged under the BC Liberals than protestors at a Donald
Trump rally.
Two other
ex-BC Liberal aides will go on trial
in August for their alleged roles in the ethnic outreach scandal of 2012,
facing three counts of violating the Elections Act.
Brian Bonney
and Mark Robertson could face
up to a year in jail and/or fines up to $10,000 if found guilty.
[UPDATE: Bonney
has since been charged
with criminal breach of trust and will next be in court June 23. Bonney and Robertson’s Elections Act charges
have been resolved with a guilty plea from their numbered company and a $5,000
fine, with the personal charges dropped.]
And the BC
Liberal Party's executive director Laura Miller resigned in December after
police laid breach of trust and mischief charges
against her and another former top Ontario Liberal government aide for
allegedly deleting emails related to a scandal involving the decision to scrap
two gas-fired power plants. The political decision cost taxpayers up to $1.1
billion.
Miller
returns to court March 23 and has promised a vigorous defence. Clark has said
that Miller is known as "a person of integrity."
The court
process will help show whether the BC Liberals are people of integrity – or
whether there has been a conspiracy of silence.
Voters will
also decide which in May 2017.
.
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