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Vaughn Palmer: B.C.'s merit commissioner marks last day in office

David McCoy wrapped up his three-year term this week as independent watchdog on hirings and firings in the public sector, and the NDP couldn’t wait to see him off.

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VICTORIA — When B.C. Merit Commissioner David McCoy wrapped up his three-year term this week as the independent watchdog on hirings and firings in the public sector, the New Democrats couldn’t wait to see him off.

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“The commissioner’s term has concluded as scheduled,” said the media release from the provincial finance ministry that went out Tuesday, the morning after McCoy’s term ended.

Vaughn Palmer: B.C.'s merit commissioner marks last day in office Back to video

No thanks for three years’ service. The New Democrats didn’t even mention McCoy by name in marking the exit of the pesky watchdog who exposed many abuses in government hiring practices.

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The New Democrats then announced a temporary stand-in to preside over the winding down of the office they had targeted for elimination.

“Tracy Campbell, a retired public servant, who has served as an assistant deputy minister and executive financial officer, will serve as acting commissioner,” said the ministry.

The lack of respect toward the departing commissioner was entirely in keeping with Finance Minister Brenda Bailey’s handling of the independent watchdog.

On budget day, she neglected to even mention the office when introducing the enabling legislation to abolish it. The news was broken by the premier’s office.

When asked the next day for justification, Bailey insisted that the office was no longer needed.

“They’re not finding areas to correct,” she claimed. “I don’t see any reason for the merit commissioner’s office to continue when they are finding zero difficulty.”

That brought a well-documented rebuke from commissioner McCoy.

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“The results of our most recent audit underscore why our work matters,” he wrote in reply. “It found the highest rate of flawed hiring processes and outcomes in nearly a decade.”

Commission staff audited 276 appointments, chosen at random from among 8,000. They found that the merit principle was “not applied” in 10 per cent of the cases. There were other errors in a further 23 per cent.

If those findings were extrapolated across the entire year of appointments, it could mean as many as 3,000 were tainted to one degree or another.

So much for Bailey’s “zero” cases of abuse. Reporters tried several times to draw McCoy’s findings to her attention. She refused to acknowledge them.

Campbell, the government’s handpicked successor, served in the upper ranks of several ministries under the current NDP and previous B.C. Liberal governments.

“As part of her role, Campbell will oversee the finalization and publication of the annual report in progress,” said the finance ministry.

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Once the NDP government majority passes the enabling legislation, public service hirings, promotions and firings, will henceforth be vetted by the government’s in-house public service agency.

The legislation provides for the transfer to government of the remaining financial assets of the commissioner. Remaining staff will be redeployed, I gather.

There is also this: “All of the records of the office of the merit commissioner are transferred to the ministry of finance.”

Such records would presumably include confidential complaints from public servants who dared to question government decisions on hiring, promotion and firing.

Why was the government, in effect, seizing them? The ministry claims there’s no cause for concern.

“All records will continue to be managed in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, ” said the written response.

“The majority of files will have already come from or through the public service agency. Information related to just-cause dismissal reviews is already processed through the agency and the first two steps of staffing reviews are already processed through ministries.

“The agency will maintain all protections the Office of the Merit Commissioner has assigned to files, ensuring confidentiality and access restrictions remain in place.”

Trust us, in other words.

Armed with this precedent, a future government could argue for absorbing the child and youth representative, the auditor-general, or other independent watchdogs into the ministries they are supposed to oversee.

Once the assets and files are seized by the finance ministry, the legislation provides that as a final act “the office of the merit commissioner is dissolved.”

Given the NDP’s lack of respect for the office, perhaps a giant vat of acid is being readied somewhere in government for the denouement. What remains of the commission could be lowered into it, while the premier, finance minister and assorted minions toast the passing of one less watchdog.

Note, too, how the abolition of the merit commission dovetails with another of the NDP’s current acts of secrecy and coverup.

Another bill before the house will broaden the grounds for the heads of public agencies to delay or narrow applications under the Freedom of Information Act.

Those same bureaucrats can reject a request outright “if responding to it would unreasonably interfere with the operations of the government of B.C. overall.”

Imagine, if you will, those powers in the hands of a public service head who was appointed in defiance of the merit principle or one of the other abuses identified by the departed commissioner.

It would be tempting — wouldn’t it be? — for him or her to exercise the power to delay or even derail a request for information that could embarrass the government that appointed them.

vpalmer@postmedia.com

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