VICTORIA – Christy Clark’s B.C. Liberal government deliberately and routinely deletes government records for political gain, says New Democrat leader John Horgan.

“The B.C. Liberals operate in a culture of deception, deceit and delete, delete, delete. It starts right at the top in the premier’s office,” said Horgan. “It is standard operating procedure for Premier Christy Clark and her B.C. Liberals.”

New Democrats raised the issue of the B.C. Liberal government deleting sensitive government records about the Highway of Tears in November 2014. In May, former B.C. Liberal staff member Tim Duncan came forward to tell his story about witnessing the intentional destruction of records and the systemic practice of this within the Liberal government.

The Privacy Commissioner released a report Thursday confirming Mr. Duncan’s allegations, and revealing FOI abuses in the office of the minister responsible for FOI and the Office of the Premier. Denham slammed the B.C. Liberal government for their purposeful destruction of records and failure to ensure political staff are respecting B.C.’s privacy laws.

“The B.C. Liberal ‘do anything to win’ attitude has created a culture where political staff are taught to triple-delete their emails to make sure they can never be found. The transportation minister himself has now admitted to triple-deleting his email,” said Doug Routley, New Democrat spokesperson for Citizen Services.

“The B.C. Liberal culture of cover-up and deceit is unacceptable to British Columbians who expect their government to operate with integrity and accountability.”

Horgan said the Privacy Commissioner’s report reveals the truth about how Premier Clark runs the government, and speaks to a lack of integrity of the B.C. Liberals.