December
17, 2001
Not
What You'd Call Open
Does
anyone suppose that eliminating one third of all government
regulations (including those for health, safety and the
environment) is a matter of public interest?
In
a letter dated December 13, 2001, the Manger, Information
access and Records Services for the Ministry of Competition,
Science and Enterprise advised that it would cost an estimated
$398.00 to provide records that document the counting instructions
issued by Minister Falcon.
(Click
here for my response and links.)
December
13, 2001
A
Wasteful Closed Government
In
early September I learned that registrars of some self governing
bodies, like the College of Physicians and Surgeons and
the Law Society, were asked to count how many regulations
they had and make recommendations for reductions in the
same manner as if they were a government department. I received
a leak telling me precisely what had been requested and
by whom. I began a quest using Freedom of Information legislation
to formally obtain what I knew existed.
A
representative from Kevin Falcon's ministry denied that
Minister Falcon had sent correspondence to any self governing
bodies. Of course not, what he did was tell others to do
it.
On
December 12th I received a letter
from Falcon's ministry saying:
"The
Ministry of Competition, Science and Enterprise, on behalf
of the Minister of State for Deregulation's office, received
your request on December 7, 2001, for the correspondence
from Minister Falcon's office to ministries directing
each ministry to contact their professional regulated
bodies to inventory their regulatory obligations, and
the correspondence rescinding this direction."
"We
wish to note that this request is a separate request from
your original request in which you requested the above
directions made by Minister Falcon to each of the Schedule
3 public bodies. We were unable to provide you with the
requested records as these records do not exist. Minister
Falcon did not correspond directly with those public bodies,
instead he directed each Ministry to contact their professional
governing bodies themselves. This was the reason why
I contacted you on the phone and directed you to submit
your previous request directly to each Ministry. I hope
that this process was beneficial for you." (emphasis
added)
The
following is my response:
We
do not agree on your interpretation of my original request.
If Minister Falcon directed various ministries to contact
self governing bodies, then a reasonable interpretation
of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy
Act would have captured those records as part of my original
request. I will not at this time ask the Commissioner
to rule on that point.
Your
letter states "I hope that this process was beneficial
for you." Being sent on a wild chase that required
freedom of information requests to every ministry within
government, and being delayed for three months was not
beneficial. Furthermore, that chase which resulted from
our early conversation was a waste of public resources
which could have been avoided had I originally been given
a forthright answer. At a time of severe cutbacks to the
public service, I hope that such wasteful exercises will
not be repeated.
It
is sad that a government that is concerned about costs would
be so wasteful as to require 28 ministries to deal with
a record request when Minister Falcon's ministry could have
answered the request in minutes. The Premier's website
says "Premier Campbell promised British Columbians
the most open, accountable and democratic government in
Canada." The behaviour of Kevin Falcon's ministry
puts the lie to any claim of openness.
December
7, 2001
Minister
Falcon expressly directed ...
Those
emails are particularly interesting because a Freedom of
Information Request directly to Falcon's Ministry resulted
in denial that any records existed on this matter. Clearly,
someone was able to put an end to the great enthusiasm the
"counting Minister" displayed when he was described
as "expressly directing"!
This
teaches an important lesson about FOI requests. Some ministries
honour the spirit of the legislation and release records
that appear to be related to a request. Others interpret
a request as narrowly as possible and do not release anything
unless it falls within the precise wording of the request.
Falcon's Ministry has confirmed that they take the narrow,
legalistic approach to FOI requests. So much for open government!
We'll
now get to see if the Ministry of Competition, Science and
Enterprise is any better at finding records that tell staff
how to count blanks on forms. After all, the "counting
Minister" probably wouldn't like the extra burden of
having to complete name, address and phone number - 3 requirements.
December
6, 2001
90
Days Plus for a Simple FOI
After
three months of trying, the Ministry of the Attorney General
has finally responded to my Freedom of Information request
on which self-governing bodies were asked to comply with
requirements set by the "counting minister". (The
Ministry of Health has yet to respond.)
The
Attorney General's Ministry has provided documents showing
that they sent letters to both The Law Society of British
Columbia and The Society of Notaries Public saying:
"The
Deregulation Office has requested a count of 'the number
of requirements imposed by, and under the authority of,
regulatory statutes'. Each ministry must submit its count
by October 1, 2001. The Law Society of British Columbia,
the Society of Notaries Public of British Columbia and
each branch of the ministry is being asked to submit their
counts to the Policy, Planning and Legislation Branch
by September 24, 2001, in order to compile the numbers
and seek the necessary approvals."
"Attached
are copies of the instructions that were sent out from
the Deregulation Office, as well as some additional instructions/hints
from the Policy, Planning and Legislation Branch. As a
self-regulatory organization, the count should include
all requirements found in the Act, Regulation, the society's
bylaws and any interpretative policy associated with the
Act."
The
letters which were sent on August 27th, 2001, were withdrawn
on September 19, 2001. We may never know who put on enough
heat to stop the "counting minister" but we
have yet to hear from the Ministry of Health which emailed
such requests to self-governing bodies in its reach.
December
5, 2001
Counting
the Blanks
In
a news release dated November 21, 2001, titled "Regulatory
Burden Count Provides Baseline for Relief", it was
claimed that almost 404,000 "regulatory requirements"
were counted. Appended to the release is a definition of
"regulatory requirement" as "a compulsion,
obligation, demand or prohibition placed on an individual,
entity or activity".
If
you had nothing better to do with your time, do you think
you would be sufficiently accurate in identifying "regulatory
burden requirements" so as to count 404,000 of them?
It
has been three months since I began my quest to obtain copies
of the emails sent to self governing bodies by the regulation
counters. Despite two appeals to the Office of the Freedom
of Information and Protection of Privacy Commissioner, I
have yet to obtain documents from the Ministry of Health
Services and the Attorney General. Not to be deterred by
their flaunting of the law, yet
another missive has been sent - this time requesting
the instructions that were issued by Kevin Falcon's ministry
on how the count was to take place.
Reliable
sources tell me that if a form had places for name, address
and phone number, then those places were to count as three
regulatory requirements.
The
importance of learning the truth about the count is to determine
the credibility of the "counting Minister" Kevin
Falcon.
Of
course, we can all be confident that the government that
promised to be open will promptly release the instructions
it issued to staff throughout the province on how to conduct
the count. We can also be confident that Santa won't put
a lump of coal in Kevin's stocking.
November
22, 2001
Kevin
Can Count, but What Does He Count?
In
a busy week for government with its announcement devastating
the public service, with a staged cabinet meeting and with
the release of the Second Quarterly Financial report, the
Minister who counts regulations was not to be outdone. Kevin
Falcon put out a news release with the claim that the BC
government has 404,000 "regulatory
burden requirements".
Sane
governments ask those affected by regulations whether they
consider any to amount to red tape. Based on suggestions
they receive, sane governments then streamline. Not so for
Premier Campbell and his friend Kevin. They have counted.
And what did they count? My sources tell me that if a government
form called for name, address and phone number, then it
was counted as having three "regulatory requirements".
Changing that to just asking for "contact information"
is said to reduce the requirements from three to one, never
mind that name, address and phone number might not then
be recorded.
Kevin
Falcon has managed to compile a list of 404,000 "things"
that are about as meaningful as how many times the Premier
says "moving forward" in the average interview.
Now the dangerous part comes as he proceeds to eliminate
some of the things he has counted.
October
12, 2001
Running
in Circles Using FOI
Sooner
or later I will unearth the records I know exist on the
crazy run around that Kevin Falcon started with self-governing
professions like the College of Physicians and Surgeons
and the Law Society. Can you imagine Falcon initiating a
directive to such bodies to produce a list of regulations
that could be eliminated? The only question that might remain
is which body had the political pull to stop Falcon.
My original
request went to Kevin Falcon's Ministry. They told me that
I would have to check with each of the 28 ministries. Now
I am told by the Ministry of the Attorney General that another
30 days will be required before they might release their
records so they can go back and check with Falcon's Ministry.
In other words, they have some records.
Why
would the AG have to check with Falcon's Ministry?
Apart
from the Attorney General, still haven't heard from at least
one Ministry that I know sent email to some professional
bodies requesting lists of regulations to eliminate. Sure
looks to me like they are avoiding something.
Let
this be a lesson. It is necessary to have good evidence
on the existence of a record before a formal search begins.
I know that what I seek exists - over to you AG and Health.
(click
here for my various letters)
September
15, 2001
Deregulate
mistakes on the left side
Minister
Kevin Falcon appears to be particularly
zealous in his attempt to reduce regulations by one
third. His efforts to measure the number of regulations
can be described as dumbfounding.
It
would be surprising if any ministry that is under the
Premier's orders to follow Falcon's instructions really
understood those instructions. That is why it is not surprising
that some ministries have sent letters to independent
self-governing bodies. Those are listed in a schedule
to the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act. The list
of 52 governing bodies starts with the Applied Science
Technologists and Technicians of British Columbia and
ends with the Society of Notaries Public of British Columbia.
In between is everything from the Board of Examiners in
Barbering to the Law Society of British Columbia.
Imagine
the shock of some of those self-regulating bodies when
they received a letter asking them to propose a list of
one third of the regulations they administer for the purpose
of elimination. Perhaps the College of Physicians and
Surgeons could just discipline doctors who make mistakes
on the right side of the body while left sided mistakes
would be deregulated.
Whether
through the heat they took with such a ridiculous request,
or whether through sudden wisdom, the requests to the
independent bodies were withdrawn but not before I put
in a freedom of information request for the list of those
bodies that received the letter and a copy of the letter.
I am now told that if I want that information I have to
put in separate requests to each ministry in government.
Through a combination of fax and emails that has now been
done.
Perhaps
the Minister Responsible for Deregulation could eliminate
the red tape that makes it necessary to repeat a request
28 times. Of course, that by itself would require another
regulation. While Falcon is at it he might think about
the resources he is wasting as he sends the bureaucracy
on a chase to count words, sentences and other measures
of his concept of red tape. Might it not be far better
to ask for suggestions from the community on troublesome
regulations and leave that which is not broken alone?
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