Horgan Apologizes After NDP Accused Of Hypocrisy Over Deleted Emails

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VICORIA – Premier John Horgan apologized after the New Democrats were accused of hypocrisy after news emerged that several senior staff in the premier’s office deleted a large number of emails.

When he was in opposition, John Horgan made his outrage well-known after a scathing independent report in 2015 found serious problems with the former Liberal government’s record-keeping in what became known as the “triple-delete scandal.”

Horgan accused the Liberals of fostering “a culture of deception, a culture of deceit, a culture of delete, delete, delete” after the blistering report identified major failures in access to information practices and a failure to keep adequate email records under former premier Christy Clark, reported CTV News.

“To the Minister of Advanced Education: Why did she fail to provide the requested records?” Liberal finance critic Shirley Bond asked during Question Period Wednesday.

A Freedom of Information request looking for all emails sent by Minister Melanie Mark in February came back with nothing—and that’s not all.

“Four senior officials in the premier’s office had no records when a request was made for all emails and text messages over a four-month period,” said Surrey-White Rock MLA Tracy Redies.

Horgan, who initially defended the deletion, told the legislature Thursday he had failed to meet the high standards set for himself on transparency and Freedom of Information since taking power last July.

Since then, his minister in charge of FOI has apologized for using her personal email to communicate with staff, several senior staff in Horgan’s own office are under review for mass-deleting their emails, and Advanced Education Minister Melanie Mark was forced to backtrack on her explanations over her deleted records, reported Vancouver Sun.

“I’m responsible for what is going on in this government,” Horgan said during question period. “I take full responsibility for not meeting the test I set for us as a government when we were sworn in in July.

“When we formed government, I set a very high standard. I am disappointed that we are not always meeting that standard, but I remain committed to ensuring that we’re doing our level best as a government to be open, to be transparent, to do due diligence and to have best practices when it comes to freedom of information.”