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Government directory latest convenient excuse
e-KNOW Editorial
By Ian Cobb
A long time ago when the Earth was green I could, as a young and eager journalist, contact any B.C. government office and ask to speak to any bureaucrat I found in the B.C. government directory.
That interview would allow me to get the straight and honest goods about a given issue, whether forestry or environment or health or justice or transportation or economics.
Government staffers were always accessible to discuss what they were up to with journalists, who then passed along that information to the taxpaying public who had and still have every right to know how and by whom their hard-earned tax dollars are being spent.
Those interviews were conducted with local bureaucrats based in Cranbrook and Invermere. Access and working relationships built as a result allowed local media to provide a clear picture about how government spent tax dollars etc.
Journalists also had regular contact with local RCMP officers. If Cst. Buddy A was handling Criminal Incident X, we spoke directly with that officer.
That was the early 1990s.
Then along came the tsunami of spin doctoring trained seals (public relations professionals) and a concentrated stampede toward controlling the message. So long to speaking with your local bureaucrats. Call some headset wearing message massager in Victoria to get a pat answer.
With the police, all communications then became funneled through the detachment NCO and then later a selected detachment member who handled media relations.
By the time the COVID-19 pandemic struck, governments and corporations world-wide had masterfully gained control of the message. Corporate death of journalism was well entrenched, with newspapers and radio stations dropping dead all over the place.
What few cracks of accessible light that still shone from government institutions, brightest in municipal and regional government sectors, began to be shuttered thanks to the forced closed doors of provincial health orders.
By 2021/2022, a vacuum of unbelievable proportions had formed as governments of all scale had wrapped themselves in shielding meant to completely control the release of information. Transparency has been kidnapped by those who devour our tax dollars.
All this being painfully obvious, one would think and hope that a turnaround may be in the offing. Considering the enormity of the braindead goofery blithering about south of the 49th and the spattering we’re seeing in Alberta, does it not seem wise to return to a time when government institutions, and elected officials, were always primarily responsible to each and every citizen first before anything else and be forthcoming with information?
‘Be transparent or else’ was once an operational mantra, for left, centre and right.
Notably, the political party in power when government severed media access to the majority of the bureaucracy and ballooned the number of bureaucrats in the process was the NDP.
So, it should not come as a surprise that the current NDP government has now closed public access to the B.C. government directory. Another turn of the control screw on the excuse that government officials are concerned about privacy and the currently all prevailing ‘cybersecurity.’
The B.C. government website states: “The Government of British Columbia has taken steps to strengthen cybersecurity and protect employee privacy by restricting public access to this site. Under this change, members of the public are no longer able to access individual employee contact details through the B.C. Directory Service.
“Access to employee and organizational directory information now requires a B.C. government credential. Public access to the B.C. Government Directory is no longer available.”
We are all worried about cybersecurity nowadays. The world is filled with nasty little hateful beat-offs lashing out at personal demons through digital vandalism and larceny. The untaxed tech giant companies could round those pukes up in a flash but instead they hire them.
That said, if a government is not easily accessible, it is a failing government that is leading its society into a shit sandwich buffet.
Rather than just knee-jerk the bureaucracy behind a screen without alert from any of the dozens of communications officers, the B.C. government needs to address the concerns while remaining transparent and accessible.
Michael Harvey, B.C.’s information and privacy commissioner, told CBC there’s no question the cybersecurity environment at present is deteriorating and it’s a valid concern.
But taking away access to the directory is also a “very serious transparency issue,” he said.
“Our public bodies, they’re paid for by public funds and they are accountable to the public and they must remain so.”
Kootenay Rockies MLA Pete Davis noted, “The government says it’s about privacy and cybersecurity, but hasn’t explained why the entire directory needs to disappear. Taxpayers pay for these jobs. They deserve transparency. Why is the NDP making it harder for British Columbians to see how their government operates?”
Public backlash to this screening of government staffers and pestering from media prompted the Ministry of Citizen Services to outline to CBC in a statement: “We fend off hundreds of cybersecurity attacks each day, and that risk has been increasing over the past few months as AI tools make it faster and easier to harvest public information and create more convincing, targeted messages and scripts.”
The ministry said it plans to provide an updated directory page with contact information for senior executives in all government ministries.
“The updated version will direct users to ministry, service, and media contacts, while reducing the public exposure of individual employee contact information and associated cybersecurity risks.”
Okay. You read it here first; that new version will be almost impossible to navigate and will constantly be down for ‘repairs’ and ‘upgrades.’
I see this move as the final closing of the communications loop; complete control has been achieved with a modicum of acceptable excuses provided.
In a world struggling with a rise in fascism, it is disgusting and disturbing to see the B.C. government squeezing off the final channels of simple, should-be-a-given communications.
We all face identity and security threats. Those working in the private sector must remain accessible or they will be bowled over and left behind. Why should it be any different for government workers? Ya make yer bed ya lie in it.
The odour of a convenient excuse lingers as the bureaucratic quagmire reaches new depths.
Ian Cobb is editor/owner of e-KNOW
