External investigator to do 'extensive review' of missing government emails

The government of P.E.I. says it will be hiring an external party to review how another batch of government emails went missing and to review government's record-keeping system.

Economic Growth and Tourism Minister Matthew MacKay announced the investigation during Tuesday afternoon's sitting in the legislature in response to questions about a recent report from P.E.I.'s privacy commissioner.

Information and Privacy Commissioner Karen Rose said the province's Archives and Records Act was violated when a swath of emails went missing from the account of a senior bureaucrat with Innovation PEI.

While Rose said there was "insufficient evidence" to conclude "that records were intentionally destroyed for the purpose of evading an access request," she also said, "the probability is small that the named employee's emails would accidentally go missing for precisely the period of time during which the e-gaming file was open."

'Not going to hide'

The commissioner also criticized the P.E.I. government for not telling the two applicants who requested the emails through access to information, that the documents were missing.

One of those applicants is suing the province over a business deal related to government's failed attempt to become a regulator for online gaming. 

Rose said the Department of Economic Growth and Tourism "deliberately withheld this important information," a violation of government's duties under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

MacKay said his department is currently looking for an external party to conduct the review.

"At the end of day I don't have the answers to this but I'm certainly not going to hide behind it," he said. "I want to make sure there's a review done and we're going to find out what happened to these emails."

Another record-keeping review

MacKay said the investigation would go beyond looking into the missing emails and that there would also be an "extensive review" of government's record-keeping system.

"As a province and as a government, this shouldn't even be a topic. We should have a system in place that this doesn't happen and if we need to change systems or look at doing something differently, we need to look at it."

This is not the first time government emails have gone missing.

In 2016, P.E.I.'s auditor general reported that emails from accounts for three senior civil servants involved in the e-gaming affair had been improperly deleted. At the time, the auditor general said there was no evidence the records had been intentionally deleted, but failure to properly archive them was a breach of the Archives and Records Act.

The previous Liberal government then reviewed records management, in response to that report. 

MacKay said the investigation isn't about repercussions if anyone is found responsible, but wouldn't rule the possibility out.

More from CBC P.E.I.