The Western Canada Wilderness Committee's (WCWC) need for a Freedom of Information request to simply get details on the revenue generated by BC Parks parking meters highlights my biggest pet peeve about government: the colossal PR machine. And I'm appalled that my measly income is pillaged to finance people lying to my face. This is not a new or original rant, but one that deserves revisiting.
Reams and reams of press releases depicted on the provincial website show the narrowest scope of a news item and don't even hint at the ire the government has stirred in significant numbers of people.
Just the headlines are enough to make one's eyes roll: the Education Ministry's website states "Survey shows student satisfaction increased," the Ministry of Children and Family Development says "Funding creates childcare spaces, supports providers." And on the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance page? Well, even the government's über-talents have limits - zero news releases are listed.
Now the province isn't even bothering with half-truths; they simply cite cabinet privilege to hide the facts behind the possible debacle that are BC Parks parking meters.
"Why the secret?" asks members of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC), and rightly so.
It's true that public pressure to keep taxes down might not motivate a civil servant to say: "Oops, we screwed up." But let the truth stand nonetheless.
A contact of mine who has worked in the higher echelons of federal government for decades suggests that the province justifies its secrecy with the mantra "government knows best." She wisely points out that the public's and opposition's cry for blood at every governmental misdeed adds to the need to spin or avoid the truth and reminded me that most of the time, politicians truly believe they're doing good. If secrecy is needed, they say to themselves, so be it.
This brought me to a line from Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel All the King's Men: "If they were so interested in doing good, they should also be interested in the truth." Naïve, I know.
The truth is politicians' first priority is to protect themselves. Democratic governments use votes as their currency, their reputation is their lifeline. And often votes go not to the best leaders but to the best politicians, that is to say the best talkers. No wonder people stay away from voting booths in droves.
My contact is not so cynical, however, and still toils to find the solution.
"It kills me to see how each side blames the other when all are contributing to the situation," she said. "How to build a more trusting relationship between citizens and government given this constant need to find fault is the ultimate question."
