Click link for The Tyee article
In interviews, three former and current UCP senior political staffers told The Tyee how the premier’s office instructed staffers to delete emails, use personal phones to conduct government business, and communicate through Slack and WhatsApp channels that are regularly wiped. “The directive would come from the premier’s office staff during regular weekly and daily meetings, reminding everyone to ensure that they’re up to date on their ‘records management,’” one former senior staffer said.
“‘Records management’ was code for deleting emails.” Another senior staffer said they understood the unwritten directive was to “delete everything, to have no records” so that nobody could get any of our information.”
Sean Holman, a University of Victoria journalism professor and FOIP expert, said he was disappointed but not shocked by the Kenney government’s attitude toward freedom of information.
“This is part and parcel of an overall trend, both in Alberta and across Canada, as governments have become more secretive, less open — and by extension, less democratic,” he said.
