On Thursday, the control freaks of the Hogan administration unceremoniously closed the second meeting of the 42nd Parliament, but before the House Liberal Party members fought a fierce struggle.

The New Democracy Party used their power to cut off debate on several controversial bills and turn off the lights of the legislature until next year. The most controversial is Bill 22, which amends freedom of information legislation, making it more difficult to understand the facts and processes behind government decisions.

The proceedings on Thursday sometimes involve a confrontation between the Ministry of the Interior and the Lower Mainland parties. The debate about the bill also reflects that many people are increasingly dissatisfied with how to deal with the wildfires of last summer. People want to know whether the bill will haunt the government again after the flood.

The symbol of the negative impact of Act 22 is that even regular information requests-from $5 to $50-may be charged, not just when it takes extra time to collect the requested information. Critics say this will make freedom of information "free" because we now have to pay for the information we already have.

Other concerns about the bill include allowing residents' data to be stored outside of Canada and exempting the prime minister’s office from FOI requests.

Kamloops-South Thompson MLA Todd Stone began to criticize the government’s enlightenment during the morning questioning period—ironically obtained through the FOI application for the core team briefing—“Every key element is determined before consulting the privacy officer, and then Consult the public again and before consulting with indigenous people."

Lisa Beare, the Minister of Civil Services, dismissed him, saying that the FOI legislation was outdated and that the government had been "listening to people's opinions."

Stone tried again after the lunch break during the committee's debate, trying to make an amendment to ensure that the public had access to information about the suppression of wildfires.

"Of course, we respect and appreciate the efforts of the people who actually carry out fire fighting in the British Columbia Wildfire Bureau, but the affected residents are increasingly worried that they will not be able to get answers from the government. As for what actually happened, they Put out the fire in his backyard," he said.

As he has done many times before, he talked about the devastating White Rock Lake wildfires in Lake Monte and Paxton Valley.

Stone said that he and his Liberal Party colleagues submitted several FOI requests for daily accounting on how to allocate resources to extinguish fires. After several delays, the government informed that no records were found.

His amendment to the split clause in the bill basically stated that, as Stone said, “in any case, information related to fighting wildfires should not be cut off.”

In other words, it should be easier to get information on how to extinguish wildfires, not harder.

Of course, his fellow Liberal Party of British Columbia supports him. Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Lorne Doerkson said: "The biggest reason is that we have to do better, especially in terms of fire fighting. We have had a terrible tragedy in the Lower Mainland, and I can assure you that there will be people on it. ask a question."

Coralee Oakes of Caraboo-North pointed out the importance of FOI applications in relation to insurance claims when property is lost. "We should all reach a consensus on helping people rebuild their lives."

Then it was Fraser-Nicola MLA Jackie Tegart's turn. She told the story of a wildfire in 2017, when BC Wildfire said that the Pressy Lake property in Bonaparte would be protected by pumps and sprinklers after being evacuated.

"Imagine that (residents) will be surprised when they return home and find that their community has been razed to the ground, but they can't find hoses or sprinklers.

"When they started asking the government about what might happen, they encountered a bureaucratic nightmare. There was no response for several weeks. Then they were told that in order to obtain information, they had to submit a freedom of information request."

Then she talked about a young family who lost their homes because things went contrary to their wishes.

"Now they have questions — a lot of questions — about who made the decision and based on what. Of course, my voters were told to submit an FOI. No house. No livelihood. It was destroyed. Simply ask something about what might happen. Common sense of the matter, and feel completely unable to obtain information. I want to tell you today that this situation must be changed."

Ben Stewart from west Kelowna also talked about the White Rock Lake fire and the loss of his house while riding a horse. "What we are trying to do is to find a way for people in the Department of Citizen Services dealing with freedom of information to exclude it in time, rather than making it a burden. I urge everyone here to consider the amendment."

Bill thanked them for their input. Since then, the amendment was rejected by members of the New Democratic Party, and the debate shifted to other clauses, including clauses on fees. But the Liberal Party soon ran out of time, and the remaining clauses were put to a vote without debate.

In the end, the New Democracy Party passed Bill 22 by a majority of 49 votes to 24 votes.

The Liberal Party-not to mention the Information and Privacy Commissioner, the British Columbia Information and Privacy Freedom Association, the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Journalists Association, the Indian Chiefs of British Columbia, the Canadian Information and Privacy Institute and several other groups and Individuals-there is no way to shake the arrogance of the New Democratic Party.

Mel Rothenburger is the former mayor and retired newspaper editor of Kamloops. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director of the Thompson-Nicola District Committee. You can contact him at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor's note: This article only represents the views of the author, and does not represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.

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