Dermod Travis: Public trust plummets when B.C. government puts key issues out of scope of investigations

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      Health Minister Terry Lake may not have clued into it yet, but that idea to ask the Office of the B.C. Ombudsperson to investigate the 2012 health ministry firings isn't flying so well.

      Might have flown eons ago—had it been the very first inquiry—but not when it risks simply being the latest inquiry.

      It's a political bind of the government's own making. Whatever moral authority it thought it had to set the investigatory framework on its own again was lost three or four investigations back.

      Simply put: the public doesn't buy the idea that the government actually wants to get to the bottom of this scandal.

      It's likely a bit to do with three of the government's favourite words when it comes to investigating itself: out of scope.

      Consider Marcia McNeil's 2014 terms of reference into the human resources aspect of the health ministry firings.

      Out of scope?

      “Ministry of Health policies and practices related to research, contracting and data-management at the time the allegations were made; any changes that have been made to those policies and practices in response; the circumstances of any privacy breach or inappropriate data access related to the allegations; and decisions made following the terminations in the context of settlement of grievances and legal claims.”

      Which pretty much covers anything of significance related to the scandal.

      There was the 2013 review of the multicultural outreach plan headed up by deputy minister to the premier, John Dyble.

      Out of scope? “The review does not include external partisan activities or activities that relate to the use of caucus resources.” Kind of a critical part to the outreach plan.

      Even still—despite conducting 27 interviews, gathering 10,000 pages of documents and directing a forensic analysis of electronic data—Dyble and his team of three deputy ministers didn't stumble across whatever it was that led to the appointment of a special prosecutor into the outreach plan only seven months later.

      Which is telling, given how eager the government was a few months before to claim they had made a make-believe call to the RCMP and provided the police force with make-believe results of an internal investigation into make-believe crimes in the health ministry.

      Weird, particularly given that two of the four deputy ministers were also part of the health ministry investigation.

      Out of scope isn't limited to investigations; it creeps into other government reviews as well. Sometimes bizarrely so.

      In 2012, the B.C. government appointed three individuals to lead an independent review of B.C. Transit.

      They were tasked with examining the efficiency and effectiveness of transit services; the existing structure, processes and policies; funding relationships between B.C. Transit and local governments; and communications and consultation between B.C. Transit and local governments.

      Despite their mandate, the following issues were out of scope: increases of provincial or local government funding to B.C. Transit; changes to the funding formulae and/or consideration of new or extended sources of funding for transit; the status of B.C. Transit as a provincial Crown corporation; and the creation of regional transportation authorities.

      There went a good chunk of the meat to that review.

      So the government shouldn't really fall over backward when it learns that the public doesn't have much confidence in this latest investigatory salvo, particularly when it will fall on the B.C. Liberal–dominated finance and government services committee to set the terms of reference for the Ombudsperson.

      Oh, and a bit of a game changer was thrown into the mix last week when Alana James told the Vancouver Sun that her concerns were not limited to the health ministry, but were “systemic throughout government and public agencies and involved many people, some of them high up and in charge of making the decisions”.

      James worked in the ministry during the 2012 firings and later outed herself as the original whistle blower.

      In light of what the public already knows, her claims that “current and former government employees worked as contractors while helping to draft contracts that gave their colleagues or family special treatment in terms of funding, access to data research and intellectual property rights” can't be dismissed out of hand.

      It just got messy. Independent public inquiry kind of messy.

      Comments

      6 Comments

      Cathy

      Jul 6, 2015 at 12:30pm

      I find it outrageous that the Liberals believe this will suffice. After Clark admitted to lying about an inquiry, and given the nature of this debacle, any government on up and up would do the right thing. All they are doing is creating more suspicion, and rightfully so. It is clear they want a whitewash as usual and the truth will be hidden once again. They are more than aware that the public knows this, but as long as they can say it was "investigated" than they are off the hook.

      James Blatchford

      Jul 6, 2015 at 2:35pm

      Who does Ms. Clark think she's kidding? She makes Dick Nixon look like he could ace the Watergate polygraph.

      Thank you very much Liberal Party of BC.

      HellSlayerAndy

      Jul 7, 2015 at 10:56am

      "Simply put: the public doesn't buy the idea that the government actually wants to get to the bottom of this scandal."
      Proof?
      Are we suppose to think that the government's political critics actually have a clue as to what the public 'buys'?
      Elites in this province continually THOUGHT the public bought the HST, the poll predicted outcome of the last provincial election (Dewey Wins!) and a public transit referendum.
      I haven't seen ANY evidence that the public is remotely interested anymore I've seen evidence that the PUBLIC is interested in rich federal politicians chatting about Duffy's expenses.
      Rome's Burning pal and you should get out more.

      Look over there!

      Jul 7, 2015 at 11:12am

      Isn't going to cut it for the BC Lying Liberals and will cost them any chance at winning the next election although that didn't seem to bother Christy who brags of winning despite unpopularity in the polls. How does she do it? Quick Wins cost tax payers a whole lot more than $70,000 dollars and it wasn't like the Liberals were on a budget and declaring election spending until BC Liberals where caught cheating using unlimited public's resources. Christy picks who will investigate and the deception continues on as government employees must now pass the delete test as privacy commissioner looks into latest allegations of abuse by government employees.

      Barry William Teske

      Jul 7, 2015 at 11:52am

      A potential life lived has been lost.
      Never to be regained.
      It seems secrecy and money are the things the
      BC Government wants to defend.
      Remind you of anyone Canada?

      Stephen

      Jul 7, 2015 at 10:54pm

      "Are we suppose [sic] to think that the government's political critics actually have a clue as to what the public 'buys'?... I haven't seen ANY evidence that the public is remotely interested...."

      You should get out more. The Vancouver Sun and a former deputy minister of health, appointed by Gordon Campbell, are part of a growing chorus of concerned and informed people in this province who are demanding a public inquiry into the wrongful dismissal of health ministry officials. They are not exactly perennial critics of the Liberal government. Instead they are indicative of a widening consensus of opinion that the government has failed to come clean on a matter of great public importance: the integrity of the process for verifying and certifying the safety and efficacy of drugs pushed by the big pharmaceutical companies. Do you seriously believe that people don't care about such an issue?