The B.C. government’s Chief Information Officer is looking into how a confidential Ernst & Young report on ICBC was leaked to the media.
The 2014 report was presented to the then-BC Liberal government as a way to find potential cost saving measures at the public insurer.
Coverage of ICBC on Globalnews.ca:
“My understanding is the chief information office has launched an investigation to understand how this got into the public domain,” said BC Liberal MLA and former transportation minister Todd Stone.
The investigation came after the Vancouver Sun published a confidential report that had been scrubbed by the previous Liberal government.
The version put online on Thursday included 10 pages that the B.C. Liberals decided to remove from the report.
The removed pages included recommendations on higher rates for drivers involved in multiple crashes and caps on soft tissue injury claim payouts.
“Government makes many policy decisions, that is what cabinet does,” Stone said.
Sometimes they adopt recommendations, sometimes they don’t, he added.
“It would be akin to asking the NDP government currently to disclose all the reports they are receiving from third parties or bureaucrats connected to trade are they are engaged in with Alberta right now.”
Attorney General David Eby had requested the previous government release the report.
Eby said he sees value in looking at the report now and considering options around no fault insurance and how ICBC manages capital ratios.
The attorney general first saw the document when it was published online.
“Instead of that information being released it was clearly suppressed,” Eby said.
“Someone was responsible for removing pages form this report that should have been available before it was released to the public. It should not fall to news organizations to release that information.”