Late Monday, the Campbell government released an abridged version of an auditor’s report into the activities of Paul Taylor. The report was supposed to provide answers regarding a 2003 email in which B.C. Liberal lobbyist Brian Kieran bragged about his influence over the former Deputy Minister of Finance. But the auditor’s report leaves many questions unanswered. And we still haven’t seen the secret review conducted by Campbell’s Deputy, Jessica MacDonald.

Gordon Campbell said that British Columbians would get answers...

“It will be made public. It will be made available to all the people of British Columbia. That is an appropriate way to deal with those kinds of allegations.”

                              Gordon Campbell, Hansard (25 April, 2007)

“... the full review, the terms of reference, the documentation, the process undertaken, the steps taken and the full report itself will be made available upon completion of the review.”

                               Gordon Campbell, Hansard (29 May 2007)

But the report raises more questions than answers...

The auditor, KPMG, says that although they prepared a "full-length written report", they are only releasing a “high level summary" of their findings that "omits much of the detailed findings".

Furthermore, KPMG notes that important information was withheld from them:

• Paul Taylor did not allow KPMG to see a complete copy of his calendar, insisting on omitting a significant period of time.
• The Campbell government erased computer back-up tapes containing most of Paul Taylor’s emails.
• KPMG couldn’t verify who contacted Paul Taylor by phone. They were only able to track a small number of his phone calls, and were never given a list of phone numbers for key individuals involved.
• Paul Taylor used his personal cell phone for much of his work, but KPMG was not allowed to see his cell phone records.

British Columbians deserve to know what really happened. But we won’t get to the bottom of this until Gordon Campbell puts all the information on the table.