Huge story by Sam Cooper in today’s Province, as the newspaper got ahold of a document outlining various investigations into misconduct by provincial government employees.

The document is available here (thanks to the Province) - and was FOI'd by freelance reporter Stanley Tromp.

Some of my thoughts:

• The documents are unclear as to what action was taken against vendors. Frankly, any vendor caught knowingly participating in questionable activities should be banned from doing business with government. There has to be trust in the purchasing process, and it's unfair to companies doing things the right way.
• It appears there may have been an informal network passing information around on how to bilk the medical plan, which is scary. These people were investigated together – were they working together? Are others out there learning from their experience? Is it coincidence?
• There is no reason why government should not release the amount of money involved in each of these cases. This is key information that taxpayers deserve to have access to.
• I'm astonished how many of these staffers seem to still be working for the government, and how little we seem to know about how they were disciplined. Government should take a page from Game of Thrones: if you are caught, put these people's heads on a pike for everyone in the bureaucracy to see – fire them, make the reason why public, and let it act as a warning to others. The fact so much of these documents are blanked out is silly.
• Ten investigations in a single quarter does give me confidence the government takes these issues seriously, but it is also sad to think there are that many people, responsible for our tax money, acting inappropriately. This sullies the ethical people within government. That said, these investigators seem to be doing a thorough job.
• I am sickened at some of the agencies involved. Bilking the Autism Funding Unit or Post-Adoption Services? That's really disgusting – those are services some of our must vulnerable citizens rely on.