VICTORIA — For the second day in a row, Opposition leader John Horgan led off Question Period on Wednesday with the latest outrage involving the death of a youth in government care.

The case of Nick Lang was already a tragedy. The 15-year-old killed himself back in June, just six days after entering into government care to attend a drug-treatment program.

Then earlier this month his father Peter, stirred by a spate of news reports about the suicides of other youths in care, went public with his grief, seeking answers regarding what had happened with his own son.

Straight away, he got a letter from the government, and it was not one of sympathy or explanation. Rather, he was put on notice that he was in technical violation of the confidentiality provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act by publicly airing aspects of the case involving his dead son.

“I believe they saw privacy concerns they thought should be addressed, so that was the purpose of that letter,” said Attorney-General Suzanne Anton, by way of justification.

Lang’s response, considering the circumstances, was remarkably polite: “I’m surprised by the expeditious action on this alleged breach of privacy. ... Perhaps if the ministry was this expeditious with Nick in the spring of 2015, my son would still be alive.”

Horgan, raising the matter on the floor of the legislature when the house resumed Tuesday, was less measured.

“Provocative and absolutely unnecessary,” he charged. “Nick is dead. Peter is grieving, and the government that he put his child in the care of writes him a letter telling him to shut up.”

That brought a warning about the use of unparliamentary language from Speaker Linda Reid. Whereas the government response could only be characterized as bloodless.

“I understand that Mr. Lang received a copy of a letter that was sent to his counsel advising of publication restrictions imposed by legislation,” said Minister for Children and Family Development Stephanie Cadieux. “I have spoken to ministry officials to ensure that their intent was simply to provide information. I understand that these are very, very difficult issues for the family — very emotional issues, absolutely — and I understand that the legal considerations around this are very challenging for them.”

There matters stood until the house resumed Wednesday afternoon, with Premier Christy Clark in attendance for Question Period, and Horgan determined to call her to account for the handling of the Lang case.

“A lawyer wrote to the family and said they were violating the privacy of their dead son. If that’s not the most heartless thing you’ve ever heard,” the NDP leader challenged. “If we have enough resources to send lawyers’ letters to stifle families looking for answers, why in goodness’ name can we not get resources so that social workers, overburdened, can respond when children die?”

For the most part this session, Clark has credited her government with efforts to improve the handling of children in care. But unlike her ministers, she knew there was no equivocating on the matter of that wrong-headed legal letter.

“I cannot imagine how much pain that family was in, learning of the death of their son. Exactly the wrong time to receive a scolding from government,” the premier conceded.