BC privacy czar says no personal info shared in ethnic vote scandal

VANCOUVER – British Columbia’s privacy czar says there’s no evidence that the province’s Liberal government shared personal information about voters with its own party as part of its controversial ethnic outreach plan.

But Elizabeth Denham did find that government employees with close ties to the party commonly exchanged government information between their work email and personal email accounts.

It’s a worrying trend, she says, both for freedom of information and for privacy protection.

In a report released today, Denham makes five recommendations for ensuring the security of government information, including keeping government business in government-controlled information management systems.

The report also recommends mandatory training for government employees with close ties to the political party on keeping those roles separate.

The Liberal plan to win the ethnic vote in the May election was leaked to the media, forcing Clark to apologize several times and fire her chief of staff.