The government's push under Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell to contract out services to companies like Maximus BC Health Inc. has led to a major decrease in transparency, said the head of a watchdog group.
“They're willing to sacrifice public transparency to enter these deals,” said Darrell Evans, the executive director of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association. “You lose the transparency we fought 20 years to get.”
In 2004 the province entered a $340-million, 10-year contract with the new B.C. subsidiary of Virginia-based Maximus Inc. for the company to administer PharmaCare and Medical Service Plan systems. The Tyee reported this week that payments to Maximus have grown by over 20 percent in each of the last two years and appear on track to be 50 percent over budget.
A government official said payments have increased because the contract has been expanded to include more things, but she has not been able to provide details of what was added or at what cost.
“We feel contracts should be public,” said FIPA's Evans. “Your article points up why. It's impossible to know if you're getting value.”
The government entered the Maximus contract at a time when it was signing over $1-billion worth deals with corporations including IBM, Sun Microsystems and EDS Advanced Solutions.
The government should automatically post contracts to a website so anyone who wants to can have a look at what is included and decide for themselves whether taxpayers are getting value for their money, Evans said.
Instead the government has fought releasing details. FIPA filed freedom of information requests for “all the major contracts” the government signed in Campbell's first term, he said. It has yet to gain access to any of them through that process.
Being secretive gives the impression the government has something to hide, he said. “It leads to speculation and uncertainty.” It reduces faith in the government, he said. “You can't trust anyone.”
Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.
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morechatter
3 years ago
Campbell Goes Private
So he dosen't have to go Public with the facts and US business and Campbell keep all their dirty dealing to themselves along with other foreign investors. Dishonesty is the Liberal policy and its what this province is about as its been eight years of keeping everything from the public. So I imagine the public is in for a very big surprises once Campbell is no longer premier. As the next government exposes Liberal misdealings and Campbell is disgraced.
telus employee
3 years ago
$30 Billion in Hydro EPAs
$30 Billion in Hydro EPAs are not accessible to the public either. Gordo and his crooks are in big trouble if the NDP wins. Maybe the NDP should start with a criminal investigation into the hand ing out of contracts by BC Hydro and looking into conflicts of interests that may have occurred.
Link to a staggering number of possible conflicts of interest in just BC hydro tenders and Environmental Assessments for IPPs.
http://www.commonground.ca/iss/214/pdfs/Take_back_your_power8a.pdf
G West
3 years ago
telus employee
Yep they're worried - not least about the promised inquiry into the Sale of BC Rail....
NorthVanKeith
3 years ago
More than Maximus
And financial information on P3 projects has been declared a cabinet secret under the FOI Act and as such cannot be obtained. See a pattern here?