Alittle more than four years ago, a candidate for the leadership of the BC Liberal party - Christy Clark - set out her plan to regain public trust through a series of open government initiatives that she committed to following through on if chosen by party members.
Four years later - despite her pledge - British Columbians are routinely greeted with reports of government secrecy:
Mount Polley inquiry: 150 pages withheld by the B.C. government;
Marcia McNeil report on health firings: parts of Appendix C and all of Appendix D withheld;
key information about new Okanagan jail locked away.
This wasn't the public's expectation when Clark said she would lead the most open and transparent government in Canada. A cynic might suggest she didn't even set the bar particularly high but it's still a bar too high for her government to clear. On her swearing in back in 2011, Clark announced a new Ministry of Open Government and a cabinet committee on open government and engagement. News releases were issued and government pronouncements staged to trumpet progress.
A few months later, B.C.'s first minister of open government, Stephanie Cadieux, had this to say about the government's release of open datasets and proactive posting of government expenses: "With today's announcement we become national leaders and I assure you there's more to come."
No, Ms. Cadieux, that was pretty well it.
Search "open government" in the BC Newsroom, the government's website for news releases and official missives from the ministries, and there are more than 450 results.
More telling? Since July 1, 2013, there are just two.
In fact, by the time the 2013 election rolled around, the first specks of dust were already settling on the premier's much ballyhooed pledge.
Search the BC Liberal party's election platform for "open" and you'll find a reference to an open skills training-driven apprentice system, an open textbook committee, open heart surgery and this key pledge: "We will continue to travel overseas to open new markets."
But not one reference to "open government" or anything approximating it.
BC Liberal party supporters can take some solace in the fact that the government kept its commitment to "continue to travel overseas." Promise made, promise kept.
With the election, so went the Ministry of Open Government. Rolled into Technology, Innovation and Citizens' Services, we're told, but nary a reference to it in Andrew Wilkinson's first mandate letter as minister from the premier.
The government's waning interest in the issue is mirrored on the BC Liberal party's website. There's a reference to it but what it means has changed remarkably over four years.
In 2011, open government was one of the party's three key priorities, alongside creating jobs and putting families first. Come to think of it, none of those priorities worked out particularly well for the government.
By 2013, open government gave way to "opening up government." Priorities were replaced by accomplishments that included: establishing an auditor general for local government, providing quarterly reports to the province via webcast and by having the "greatest percentage of women in cabinet."
Last May, it became "An open government," bullet points gone. It's all about listening to and consulting with British Columbians "on an unprecedented scale." Or what might be better called "Let's chat" rather than open government.
In her 2011 year-end report, Premier Clark stated: "Open government is about giving people a sense of confidence that government is working for them, not trying to do something to them."
It seems that somewhere along the way, the government decided doing something to British Columbians was easier.
