VANCOUVER - The British Columbia government erased back-up copies of MLA emails from 2001 to 2005, including those of Premier Gordon Campbell and cabinet ministers, according to information revealed in court yesterday in the trial of three men accused of corruption in the sale of BC Rail.
In an episode reminiscent of the late Rose Mary Woods, President Richard Nixon's secretary who "accidentally" erased a crucial segment of a White House tape recording following the Watergate break-in, B.C. Supreme Court heard that the provincial government has erased back up tapes of emails from 2001 to 2005.
That means no possibility of the defence team for David Basi, Bob Virk and Aneal Basi obtaining the emails to prove their innocence of corruption charges related to the sale of BC Rail.
The Globe and Mail's Mark Hume was the only journalist present for yesterday's hearing and reports that defence lawyers were "very troubled" when B.C. government lawyer George Copley told Justice Elizabeth Bennett the tapes were erased and unrecoverable.
Regrettably I was travelling and not in attendance but a reliable observer has filled me in considerably on the events of the day and I am indebted for the following account:
The defence has served affidavits to 33 people employed or previously employed by the Campbell government - from the period of June 5, 2001 to the point where employment ended - for all electronic records (email and blackberry) specifically related to any discussion prior to the sale of BC Rail, the divestiture of Roberts Bank, or the cancellation of the Port Subdivision.
The emails sought include those of Premier Gordon Campbell and his chief of staff and former press secretary, multiple deputy ministers, and various other government employees.
The B.C. government's lawyer, George Copley, claims that government back-up tapes (of emails) for the period requested either no longer exist or are unrecoverable.
Copley stated that back-up tapes are kept for 13 months for the purpose of disaster recovery, not for archived purposes.
Defence lawyers said: "This is the first time we have been told that the emails sought are not there. This is potentially a very significant matter and major development in these proceedings."
The defence also said they have 4500 boxes with hard copies of emails and other information which was the focus of their freedom of information request. They say a huge amount of substantial and relevant emails (which they believe remain in electronic email format) have not been recovered and therefore are not part of the 4500 boxes.
Court adjourned until Tuesday morning so defence could either seek cross examination of the 33 individuals, or alternatively submit a letter through Copley, asking the witnesses to answer specific questions about whether and how their computers were searched and any reasons for why they claim the emails are no longer recoverable.
Bennett said the issue in its entirety must be resolved before Sept. 4th.
Provincial government procedure for the handling of electronic records is governed by the Document Dispersal Act and related policies. Documents must be kept for 7 years unless a disposal order is granted following the procedure outlined in the Act. This order must be approved by a designated government official.
The policy that specifically guides the treatment of electronic records notes that any information that is part of a legal process must be kept and available.
It would be hard to justify the disposal of emails touching on a matter which is the subject of a police investigation and charges.
NDP justice critic Leonard Krog called loss of government files “extremely troubling”.
“The Document Disposal Act requires that [electronic records] be kept for seven years,” Krog said. “It raises incredible suspicions and someone farther up the political chain than Mr. Copley is going to have to appear in court and explain what happened.”
Bill Tieleman is a regular Tyee contributor who writes a column on B.C. politics every Tuesday in Vancouver 24 hours. E-mail him at weststar@telus.net or visit his blog at http://billtieleman.blogspot.com.
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sunshine coast girl
2 years ago
What a surprise..
How disgusting. Was the Document Disposal Act followed and if not, why not? The RCMP need to be called in to investigate. Convenient that everything is gone two years before and two years after the fact? Gotta make sure you get any stray ones outside of 2003, eh? And how are the Gordon Campbell lackeys permitted to continually get away with this kind of crap?
alive
2 years ago
what else is news?
Reminds me of the book "1984" where all records are destroyed and libraries constantly have their volumes revised to fit the latest government policy.
Maybe we accidentially will have some disaster happen to the remaining records?
southdeltawalker
2 years ago
Curiouser and curiouser!
I worked for years in the BC Government doing contracts.
Everything was to be kept for 7 yrs-no exception. We often worked on files that were politically sensitive.
Everything was kept even quick notes [complete with doddle's!] from meetings regarding contracts and contractors.
The Government e mail system was backed up every night. The only way we could erase/delete emails was to do it through your own computer at work. The Government system still would then have copies.
The reason for this was accountability, transparency and record keeping. Especially if there was an investigation or Freedom of Information- FOI-request.
How many people are going to believe that this disposal of crucial evidence was an accident?
Was it just those emails regarding the sale of BC Rail?
How convenient for the BC Government and Gordon Campbell.
The Government has gone "through the looking glass".
Nothing is what it should be
Rose Mary Woods ghost does not walk the halls of the Legislature-it's Alice in Campbelland.
Whiskey reef
2 years ago
You obviously never met.....
Ken Dobell,if it can`t be deleted......
Take a guess at how many hard drives are sitting on the bottom of the georgia straight.
The spin today on CKNW wasn`t about the fact that emails have been LOST,the spin was......
Why was the defence on a fishing expedition,are the email even relevant.
Gordon Campbell`s word is good enough for me,nothing to see here,move along,......
And people voted for this guy,SHEESH!
dorothy
2 years ago
whaaat?
"That means no possibility of the defence team for David Basi, Bob Virk and Aneal Basi obtaining the emails to prove their innocence of corruption charges related to the sale of BC Rail."
Last time I looked, one did not have to prove innocence. It was enough that reasonable doubt existed. Reasonable, eh? In my capacity of juror, it was once explained to me, that this means doubt for which you can give a reason. It would seem to me to be a pretty powerful reason that records had been spirited out of existence. Where is the problem, unless people were hoping to get som entirely different parties by some kind of reductio ad absurdum type proof? Not so easy. But the voters ought to have been capable of doing the job. Too bad, folks...
Bailey
2 years ago
Bailey
If this is destruction of evidence after it was identified as evidence by being sought in disclosure, then that's a crime. It's obstruction of justice and charges must be laid.
But there are other possible sources that might yield the same information. If the questions whose answers might have been in the destroyed evidence are:
-Did government or party insiders order the misbehaviour of the defendants?
-If so, why?
-Was it linked, as has been suggested, to a money laundering scheme for some kind of organized crime operation?
Then perhaps the money might be followed.
Would a forensic audit of all the personal and business dealings of everybody involved in the BC Rail deal and everybody involved in the destruction of the files in question, individuals and agencies as well, be a good source of answers for those questions?
It would not be as direct as the evidence that is gone, but it would offer answers to some of them, I think.
Whether the answers are yeses or noes, they should be there.
There can't be that many people who were directly involved. How long could such an investigation take?
Skywalker
2 years ago
It's "troubling" Krog says?
My goodness! It's contempt of the court and the whole system of justice and the public from a corrupt government.
sunshine coast girl
2 years ago
The Wednesday June 24 headlines from the three BC dailies:
Mortgage arrears soar in BC
VIHA scrambles to cut costs
Falcon spreads blame for botched cleaning
Campbell spurns call for talks on child poverty
Thousands of government emails missing or unrecoverable
Degrees of earning capacity found to be least in BC
Liquor banned on buses on Victoria Day; police to use video
Canada’s sawmills worst losers in 2008
Recession’s worst blows still to come
As our Premier says, “BC, the Best Place on Earth”. Does he really believe that crap?
offended
2 years ago
June 2007
was the date of the request for the emails. Here we are 2 years later and the government has an "aha" moment and realizes there are no email records? Come on. The disrespect of this government towards those that pay their wages i.e. the taxpayer borders on abuse. There were computers seized during the raid on the legislature. Surely there were emails on their hard drives. Surely there are emails on the hard drives of some of the 33 people that the defense were seeking emails from. The government sure does think we're stupid. Maybe they're right.
sunshine coast girl
2 years ago
They must be right...
because the majority of voters continue to let them get away with anything they want.
DPL
2 years ago
Next excuse might be"My dog
Next excuse might be"My dog ate it"
The citizens of BC deserve better, but the same citizens voted in this gang.
de Falla
2 years ago
Judgement
The law says the determination of what is transitory is left to the judgement of the individual in possesion of the email, and not the judgement of an idependent third party. Makes sense, as it would be absured to think special bureaucrats should be reading through everything written. But it does mean you will only be found in breach of the law if you really screw up while breaking it.
It would be embarassing if the any of the 60 BC Rail emails apparently linked to Mr. Kinsella and still before the court were found to be both substantive and addressed to some of the Ministers and MLAs in question. Judgement is yet to be made on whether we will ever see those emails.
G West
2 years ago
Ummm
Have a look at the terms of the applicable legislation:
http://www.bclaws.ca/Recon/document/freeside/--%20D%20--/Document%20Disposal%20Act%20%20RSBC%201996%20%20c.%2099/00_96099_01.xml
Skywalker
2 years ago
One would have thought..
..that by now there would have been some rationalization of the actions of the Campbell Liberals by Luke, Realisticman and Wilf by now. I guess even they are having trouble swallowing this sleeze.
freebear
2 years ago
How convenieeeeeent!
Should be a landslide victory for the Liberals next election eh!
de Falla
2 years ago
Who deposits?
Yup, law says deposited includes filed, registered, recorded and kept; but is silent on who deposits. That would be the individual in possesion of the record. Like those pink telephone message slips everyone throws into the garbage, for example.
Ulitmately, an affordable system relies upon a measure of honour and is frustrated by people without. Those caught breaking the law are most often without a certain measure of savvy as well.
For a better world
2 years ago
Gordo's #1 Lobbyist
Dobell's guidance to municipal bureaucrats was they should not retain any record that could be subject to a Freedom of Information request. If there was no record, a response would not be necessary. It certainly appears he has guided Campbell and company in a similar fashion.
Whiskey reef
2 years ago
Whats the point..........
in even debating why/who/what/where....
When the voters in BC voted in a racist baffoon in Bill Bennett,voted in a land fraudster John Les,a man who has endangered the public by speeding Von Dongen,a convicted drunk driver in Campbell........
Voted in a goverment that has lied for 8 years,misled the public,indebted the province to new historic high levels.....
and we are supposed to be SHOCKED by this,and the MSM isn`t fooling me,they want to play nicey nicey and report some facts for a change ,palmer/Smyth/Baldrey/cknw/global the entire bunch of them are rotten to the core.
And we all know in 3 years they will forget about all the transgressions and start thumping the liberal drum and the 50% of voters will vote them in again.
Falcon today on the Christie Clark show talking the money crunch in health funding,Clark asked Falcon about the paramedic strike and.........
Falcon stated " The paramedice have to face the reality of the new world we live in now,it is the worst economic conditions in generations"
Well,I haven`t heard Campbell talk about rolling back those massive civil servant raises last summer,you know,like the 104.000.00$ raise Jessicca MacDonald got bringing her wage package up to 348.000.00$ per plus expenses.........
Earlier in the day on the bill good show with Michael Smyth guest hosting the show,the topic was the problems with the no barrier shelters in Yaletown.......
The first caller blamed socialism and the NDP for all the problems with the area and the second caller blamed the NDP for closing riverview.......
Smyth never once disputed the callers or mentioned.........
That Campbell closed 9 prisons/25 court houses,threw people off welfare,stopped building social housing,closed woman`s shelters,fired(illegaly) 9000 low paid HEU workers............
As for Luke interjecting on this topic he`s been blocked,deservingly so,shame on the interior,shame on the bible belt,shame on Suzuki and shame on 1 million voters with heads stuck up their ass who didn`t vote!