… About culture of the Christy Clark government
1) Our thesaurus has lots of synonyms for “dishonesty” too
“Enough of the obfuscating, weaseling, dissimulation, doubletalk, verbal subterfuge, stonewalling and other distasteful conduct that hangs like a miasma over the shameful events surrounding the precipitous firing of eight Ministry of Health researchers in 2012. The public deserves a public inquiry.”
– Editorial (Vancouver Sun), June 19, 2015
2) Just the Facts, Ms. Denham
“In the course of this investigation, we uncovered negligent searches for records, a failure to keep adequate email records, a failure to document searches, and the willful destruction of records responsive to an access request. Taken together, these practices threaten the integrity of access to information in British Columbia.”
– Elizabeth Denham, B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC Press Release), Oct. 22, 2015
3) Your culture gets rotten if it’s left out too long
“This report is a scathing indictment. A culture of deception, a culture of deceit, a culture of delete, delete, delete.”
– New Democrat Leader John Horgan (in The Province), Oct. 23, 2015
4) What’s another word for “pretense?” Anyone?
“Premier Christy Clark’s promise to have the most open, transparent government in the country has been mostly pretense.”
– Gary Mason (Globe and Mail), Dec. 17, 2015
5) It’s hard to tell the scandals without a program
“But it was hard not to laugh – and wonder whether the government has so many embarrassments in play that even the insiders are having trouble keeping them straight.”
– Vaughn Palmer (Vancouver Sun), Nov. 21, 2015
6) Christy Clark must think open government is for suckers
“Having pounded a symbolic wooden stake through the heart of the secretive, disdainful and power-amassing Stephen Harper, people who are fed up with unresponsive governments have no further to look for a new target than Victoria. “The latest revelations about the Premier Christy Clark government’s distaste for providing information to anyone outside its inner circle is, if you happen to be a democrat, simply depressing.”
– Lorne Eckersley (Creston Valley Advance), Nov. 3, 2015
7) Premier Clark’s goal: the best government her buddies can hide
“Unfortunately, their long tenure seems to have convinced many of the party hacks within the Liberal machine that they are not beholden to anyone. Not the press or the public, certainly. When a government decides to control and conceal information for political purposes, they have given up the right to govern.“
– Editorial, Langley Advance, Oct. 29, 2015
8) Is the Cone of Silence still a thing?
“Another senior staffer in charge of Freedom of Information requests in [Premier Christy] Clark’s office asks people about them in person, occasionally scribbling on a sticky note, which he then gets rid of. Call it government by Post-It. Wisecrackers have suggested burner phones and invisible ink could be next.”
– Editorial (North Shore News), Oct. 25, 2015
9) Now we know where Christy Clark’s Prosperity Fund went
“Here now I present my list of 2016 Pipe Dreams… “Premier Christy Clark or someone else in the BC Liberal government actually writes something down in regards to public policy and not triple delete it. “Apparently this never, ever, ever happens and the bill for Post-It notes must be enormous.”
– Chris Campbell, (Vancouver 24 Hours), Dec. 24, 2015
10) Idea for next bus slogan: For a Hoodwink-Free BC
“Like the former federal Conservative government, the B.C. Liberals are showing a penchant for doing whatever it wants and trying to hoodwink British Columbians.”
– Editorial (100 Mile House Free Press), Oct. 29, 2015
11) Give them time; they’ll find a way to quadruple-delete
“It’s the now-notorious triple-delete move. It’s like locating all the documents someone requested on a sensitive topic and setting fire to them, then flushing the ashes. You couldn’t devise a more suspicious response if you tried.”
– Editorial (Times Colonist), Page Oct. 24, 2015
12) Christy Clark is hiding her desire for open government
“Chances are that most private individuals do not employ a triple-delete protocol. “We would do that only if… well, if we had something to hide.”
– Editorial (Peace Arch News), Oct. 29, 2015
…On Christy Clark’s failure to help the most vulnerable
13) How is it possible everyone gets this except the ‘families first’ premier?
It’s time for B.C. to collaborate with other provinces and Canada to find a just and workable solution. The province might even aspire to leadership on the poverty file … rather than playing the laggard.”
– Editorial (Vancouver Sun), Nov. 28, 2015
14) Only excuse Christy Clark seems to have is that she doesn’t want a plan
“B.C. is now the only province in Canada to not have [a poverty-reduction] plan The NDP’s proposal would see targets set to reduce child poverty in B.C., including having a lead minister in charge of the plan. “The Liberals may not agree with all facets of the plan, but there is simply no excuse for not coming up with a plan of their own.”
– Editorial (Burnaby Now), Dec. 2, 2015
… in the Premier’s own words
15) In case anyone thought she wasn’t just in it for herself…
[Asked how she felt about Malaysia, where a $700 million donation ended up in a politician’s bank account]: “Makes me feel like I went into business in the wrong country.”
– Christy Clark (in The Tyee), Dec. 14, 2015
16) If you have to work that hard at a non-denial denial, well…
[Asked if she intended to repeat her party’s wasteful $17-million, partisan pre-election ad campaign]: “I don’t think that’s in the plan. I wish I could say to you no, never, but I, you know…”
Christy Clark (in BC Local News), Dec. 15, 2015