The announcement that the forensic investigation of BC Housing report has been received by BC Housing from the Office of the Comptroller General came late in the day on Friday when not many people were paying attention.
The Minister of Housing didn’t release the report publicly but has asked the ministry to reviewed the report to possibly make redactions and release “as much information to the public as the law permits.”
Within the date range of the forensic investigation is when the now Unelected Premier David Eby’s had the role as British Columbia’s Housing Minister.
The request for the review came after a 2022 external review conducted by Ernst and Young under the direction of the Crown Agency Secretariat. At the request of the Minister Responsible for Housing, the Office of the Comptroller General initiated a forensic investigation to further evaluate details of BC Housing’s operations with select service providers.
The BC NDP didn’t bother telling the public when British Columbia’s Minister of Housing Ravi Kahlon received the report and there was no date in the news release when more information will be made public.
The BC Liberals instantly followed up on the announcement demanding the BC NDP government immediately release the report on the forensic investigation at BC Housing to the public unredacted.
Karin Kirkpatrick, BC Liberal Shadow Minister for Housing, and Peter Milobar, BC Liberal Shadow Minister for Finance in a joint statement accused the BC NDP and unelected Premier David Eby of taking “every chance to bury and conceal both the state of the organization [BC Housing], and this resulting audit, so that he could run his leadership campaign.”
“Our BC Liberal Caucus has called multiple times for this forensic audit to be made public and to be reviewed by the Select Standing Committee on Public Accounts, but David Eby’s NDP has blocked us at every turn.
“Now, today’s statement from the NDP has given no firm timelines or dates for making the report public and is already hinting at withholding vital information.
“Government is fully able to release as much information from this report as they want to — any attempts to claim that full disclosure is prevented by law is simply more NDP obfuscation.
“With housing affordability and homelessness worse than ever in B.C., the public has a right to know exactly what is going on at BC Housing. It’s time for David Eby and the NDP to finally be honest with people.”
According to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act the government must give notice to third parties named in the report that the information will be released and they have a chance to appeal which could cause months of delays and censorship of portions of the report. The Province claims it “intends to release as much information as the law permits.”
However it appears the Freedom of Information Act allows the government to release the report right away and unredacted.
In Division 4 — Public Interest Paramount of the Act it says “Information must be disclosed if in the public interest because it’s in the Public Interest”
It goes on to say “Whether or not a request for access is made, the head of a public body must, without delay, disclose to the public, to an affected group of people or to an applicant, information – the disclosure of which is, for any other reason, clearly in the public interest.”
Third parties are not required to be notified before information is released if it’s in the public interest.
