Doubling Down On The Dobell Doctrine

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The FOI minimization doctrine of Mr. Kenneth Dobell, the right hand man of former British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell, was invoked early in the days of the Campbell/Clark regime.

Here is how Stanley Tromp called it, in the Tyee, in 2007:

...(T)he insidious shift towards "oral government" is growing. E-mails must be preserved and accessible under FOI laws. A debate is looming over Blackberry records. Yet the premier's multi-tasking assistant Ken Dobell startled an FOI conference in 2003 by announcing frankly that "I delete my email all the time as fast as I can." (then Privacy Commissioner David) Loukidelis later reprimanded Dobell for publicly admitting he avoids taking notes so they aren't uncovered by reporters under FOI...

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We recently invoked the 'Dobell Doctrine' as a way of, perhaps, explaining the fact that the government released a grand total of zero documents that pertained to the 'Boessenkool Investigation' in response to FOI requests by the VSun and Bob Mackin.

And now?

Well, it would appear that there was a doubling-down of the Double-D when it came to documents that might have shed light on the decisions that were made by the ChristyClark/GordonCampbell government that led them to spend $800,000 on glossy pro-HST pamphlets that they never released when their polling told them that they would be crucified by the public for doing so.

How do we know that this double-down actually occurred?

Because, when Mike Smyth of the Province filed an FOIR to get those documents he was told there were none, not because the documents never existed, but instead because they had already been destroyed.

Destroyed by the ChristyClark/GordonCampbell government.

Seriously.

Here is how Mr. Smyth told that part of the story:

...The government told me this week that, after the pamphlet plan was cancelled, all the records related to its creation were deemed to be "transient" and were destroyed.

All the planning, all the research, all the emails, all the strategic scheming that went into the pamphlet — all erased from the government's computer banks...

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To paraphrase a tiny chunk of that old masterpiece from Mr. Heller...

...Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of the Dobell Doctrine and let out a respectful whistle. "That's some doctrine, that Dobell Doctrine,"...

I'll leave it you to decide which Campbell/Clark government functionary played the part of Doc Daneeka who replied:

"It's the best there is."

Doesn't it just make you wonder how many deals were made with all those Milo Minderbinder's who were crawling all over the province of British Columbia during 'The Golden Era'  for which there are no records whatsoever?

Deals that we, the people of British Columbia, will be paying for...

...Pretty much forever.

Sheesh

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