British Columbia Premier Christy Clark says her government will prohibit the "triple-deleting" of e-mails, a practice that has damaged her open-government pledge and has now been the focus of two high-profile reports calling for its abolition.

The latest report, released Wednesday and penned by former B.C. information and privacy commissioner David Loukidelis, says government should ban the triple-deleting of e-mails as soon as possible.

An October report by the current privacy commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, criticized Ms. Clark's government for routinely thwarting access-to-information requests. Ms. Denham referred one instance, in which a Ministry of Transportation employee allegedly lied to commission investigators about his role in deleting e-mails, to the RCMP.

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The report was the latest criticism from Ms. Denham, who has previously scolded the government for both deleting records and for not creating them in the first place. Specifically, she has noted too many access-to-information requests are returned with a letter indicating no records could be found.

Mr. Loukidelis was brought in to advise government on how best to implement Ms. Denham's recommendations.

He called on the province to ensure information requests are processed by public servants instead of political staff and consider creating a legislative "duty to document" to show that the province maintains records and does not endorse an "oral government."

He also said the province should update its policy on which records are considered "transitory" – a category that includes convenience copies, duplicates, working materials and drafts, all of which can be deleted under the law.

"These recommendations are not a panacea, but they can effect real change," Mr. Loukidelis wrote in the 70-page report.

Mr. Loukidelis made 27 recommendations in all, including records-management training for all public servants and political staff. He said the province should consider introducing legislation that would give the privacy commissioner the authority to investigate unauthorized destruction of records. He said government should also develop policy to ensure any employee who destroys a record, or assists anyone else in doing so, is subject to discipline up to and including dismissal.

"… It really is ultimately a question of making sure that people know the rules, are trained in them, are given guidance in how to apply them and do their best to do that," Mr. Loukidelis told reporters during a conference call.

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Ms. Clark, in a statement shortly after the conference call, said the province would accept all of Mr. Loukidelis's recommendations. She said it would prohibit triple-deleting, ensure public servants were made responsible for the searching of records "as soon as practicable," and consider the establishment of a duty to document.

Ms. Clark, speaking with reporters at an unrelated event, said ministers and political staff would no longer delete any of their sent e-mails.

"Not single, not double, not triple," she said.

Triple-deleting refers to the practice of deleting an e-mail, removing it from the deleted items folder, and then deleting it a third time from yet another folder that contains backups of deleted e-mails.

Ms. Clark did not offer a timeline for the changes, but said "I want to get going on this."

She said she entered politics to create a more open government.

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Vincent Gogolek, executive director of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, said Mr. Loukidelis's report adds to the consensus on the need to document, and to penalize people who interfere with information requests.

Mr. Gogolek said he is concerned about how quickly the recommendations will be implemented. He said a special committee that is reviewing the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act won't report back until the end of May.

"That's the end of the spring session," he said in an interview. "…When's the government going to respond to what will probably be a fairly lengthy report?"

John Horgan, Leader of the opposition New Democratic Party, criticized Ms. Clark for not committing to the duty to document more forcefully.

"They say out of one side of their mouths they're open and transparent. And then when people ask for documents, none exist," he said in an interview.

Ms. Denham, in a written statement, said Mr. Loukidelis's report was a "thoughtful contribution" on important issues and she was pleased to see he supported her findings.

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Ms. Denham said she intends to follow up "on the outcomes of government's commitments" in the spring.