B.C. Rise News, Politics

For a democracy to function properly and to build public trust, the government needs to be accountable to the people. Part of being accountable means the government needs to be transparent and not afraid of public scrutiny. Over the years we have seen a trend with governments causing long delays or even straight censoring FOI requests with an unnecessary amount of redactions and causing long delays which most often end up turning into a complaint to the Privacy Commissioners Office..

Our Idea:

• Release all BC Carbon Tax data: British Columbians have a right to know after 16 years how the total amount of money government has taken from British Columbians in carbon tax and clean fuel tax. They also deserve a full audit to know where all that money has been spent and pull the curtains back on the “green initiative” projects program receiving the majority of the money.
• Remove the fees for FOI requests: Currently the fees are preventing members of the public from requesting. By removing the fees it allows individuals from all income levels to submit request for public documents. Sometimes the fees can run into the thousands when trying to research one thing and dozens and dozens of requests need to be made for other referenced documents or topics. Time line: This could be implemented immediately.
• Itineraries: The Premier and cabinet ministers should be required to post their public appearance schedules in a convenient place for all British Columbians to view on demand such as their page on the government website. This would take less than one week to add to the government website. Timeline: It can be automated to pull straight from the outlook calendar or what ever they use to keep track of their public appearances.
• Modernize the way the government releases publicly owned information. Pro actively releasing documents can save time and money not only for the government but will provide a benefit to B.C. citizens and media groups as well. A new Freedom of Information framework is needed in this digital age. Government should be prioritizing large government projects and public interest topics to be released even if no one has asked for it yet. With a searchable database accessible to the current public facing website. Consequences to government when necessary. Timeline: prioritizing large government projects and public interest topics can be implemented immediately.
• Modernize code of conduct for politicians expanding to also include social media use. There’s a clear rise in government elected officials that have become voter blocking fanatic’s and blocking anyone that has a different opinion or turns off comment in an attempt to reduce public scrutiny. If the government or politicians are afraid to be publicly scrutinized. What ever the government is doing is probably not in the best interest of the public. For example: Elected officials and politicians shouldn’t be blocking people on their government messaging social media accounts or limiting discussion also know as debates by turning off comments. This would apply to all levels of government in British Columbia.