In a recent west coast article, "An unhealthy culture of secrecy and spin-doctoring," reporter Stephen Hume argues that the British Columbia government has been anti-democratic in their failure to disclose information which should be available to the public. For instance, the B.C. provincial government allegedly removed information from public documents that exposes unethical procurement by the Ministry of Children and Family Development. More specifically, passages were removed that stated how sexually abused children felt "neglected, isolated and short-changed by government." In addition, documents were censored that proved that the ministry recently spent $560,000 "on a luxurious redesign of its executive offices." Hume goes on to discuss several other instances of unethical censorship and secrecy in Canadian politics.
If democracy means that power ultimately lies in the people who elect our leaders, then it is difficult to label Canada as a 'true democracy.' Do our governments not owe us the right to disclose information that directly pertains to not only our tax dollars, but our youth in this case? As a young politically active voter, it makes me second guess the governments we elect.
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