TUESDAY OCTOBER 27, 2015
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IS IT A TIME TO CULL?
40 YEARS OF MULBERRY BOOKS
Communities like Parksville are looking for answers on geese
Business with two locations celebrates entering its fifth decade here
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A24
COMMISSIONER’S REPORT
Findings ‘shocking’ Local MLAs wade in on e-mail controversy in Victoria CANDACE WU news@pqbnews.com
A scathing report released by the province’s Information and Privacy Commissioner Thursday illustrates “a government and premier that puts themselves above the law and any sense of accountability,” said Scott Fraser, Alberni Pacific Rim MLA. According to commissioner Elizabeth Denham’s report, Access Denied, three investigations show records were intentionally destroyed to avoid public release. One of those requests was for records related to public hearings on the risks of travelling along the ‘Highway of Tears’, a notorious stretch of highway in Northern B.C. where a number of women have gone missing or been murdered. Fraser, NDP spokesperson for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, called the findings “shocking.” The report suggests the government hindered access to information requests by using tactics such as “triple deleting” e-mails to wipe them from the record and other contraventions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). Triple deleting is when a person moves an e-mail from his or her inbox to a deleted items folder, then empties that folder (double deleting) moving the e-mails to a Recover Deleted Items folder and finally deletes items from the recovery. The report said triple deleting e-mails “completely expunges (them) from the government system.” “I am deeply disappointed by the practices our investigation uncovered,” Denham wrote in the report. See STILWELL SAYS, page A5
J.R. RARDON PHOTO
’TIS THE SEASON: Qualicum Beach parks workers Jason Gray, left, and Lindsay Deakins are all but obscured as they use leaf blowers to clean up along Memorial Drive on Friday afternoon.
PARKSVILLE HOUSE WAS SUBJECT OF UNSIGHTLY PROPERTY COMPLAINTS
Fire spurs wider debate in city JOHN HARDING
editor@pqbnews.com
There were no injuries when a house fire lit the night in a Parksville neighbourhood last week. Firefighters were called to the scene at Pym and Soriel at 7:22 p.m. Wednesday. One person was at home during the fire, called in the emergency and got out safely, said Parksville Volunteer Fire Department Chief Doug Banks. The chief said the fire is still under investigation but seemed to have started in the garage before
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involving an RV on the property and the front porch. The house has been the subject of complaints from neighbours in the past. “I tried to declare the place a fire hazard because of all the junk,” said neighbour Al Bryans. “It was just one hell of a mess but we couldn’t get anything done.” Mayor Marc Lefebvre confirmed the city had received complaints about the residence. “Yes, I was certainly aware of this,”
said the mayor. “I had been to see the neighbours a couple of times.” Lefebvre said the city had issued an order, in writing, to the owner, “to clean the place up,” after which “there was a fairly decent clean-up undertaken” that was “more or less satisfactory.” Lefebvre agreed the house was “very unsightly.” He also said although he’s not “technically qualified,” he agreed the house could have been a fire hazard. See CITY WILL LOOK, page A4
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