Rich
Coleman is not only the Minister of Forests but also the
Minister Responsible for Housing; some thought that was
because many houses are made of wood but StrategicThoughts
has learned that the housing side of Coleman's ministry
is attempting to stimulate the forest industry in other
ways as well.
On October
3rd Coleman announced a rental
assistance program for families earning less than $20,000
per year; the government specified that those on welfare
need not apply. The announcement claimed that up to 15,000
British Columbia families would be helped immediately. That
estimate seemed strange since data that is publicly available
suggested that 50,000 or more families should be eligible
for the new benefit, so a freedom of information request
was submitted which asked how the estimate of 15,000 was
made. It took two and a half months but the Ministry has
finally responded saying that it estimates that an answer
to my information request will produce 497 documents, so
for the payment of $159.25 they will proceed to assemble
the documents and will contact me again if it looks like
the costs will exceed that price by more than $50.00. With
no intent to hurt the forest industry, in the interests
of saving a few trees, I've asked the Ministry to narrow
the scope of my request for information and just give me
the dozen or so documents that specify their method of estimation
and the calculation.
Wording
that might look strange and awkward at first is included
at the end of my
letter to the Ministry. The government looks for every
possible excuse not to disclose information. When it answers
a freedom of information request, it blanks out any information
that does not directly answer the question that is asked
even though there is no reason to prohibit the release of
the information other than it being, in the opinion of the
government, slightly off the topic of the request. In order
to stop that censorship, my request is for all information
in any document that is released so that the information
that answers the request can be seen in the full context
of the uncensored document.
The
Campbell government has the name and address of every family
that qualified for MSP premium assistance. Using those records
it would be easy to contact every family who is likely to
qualify for the new rental assistance program in order to
ask them to answer a few more simple questions in order
to receive the benefit. That could be done without violating
their privacy rights, and the Freedom of Information and
Protection of Privacy Commissioner could comment on the
method so as assure the protection of privacy. The government
has taken a different approach. Cynics might think that
is because it wants to boast about helping the working poor
without making an effort to see that the program is fully
subscribed. It may take months to get the information out
of the Campbell government, but eventually we'll be able
to compare the estimates in the October 3rd news release,
the number of families who actually receive benefits from
the program and the MSP premium assistance figures. A government
that was committed to helping the working poor, and to being
open and honest, wouldn't have to be beaten into transparency
over the course of many months.
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