Alberta premier designate Rachel Notley has put a stop order on the shredding of all government documents Wednesday after allegations of improper destruction of government records.
“At the request of the premier designate, the deputy minister of executive council has directed all departments to stop shredding until the new government assumes office,” said a news release.
Earlier in the day, the information and privacy commissioner and the public interest commissioner announced a joint investigation into the alleged improper destruction of records by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development.
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During a news conference, public interest commissioner Peter Hourihan said his office received a tip that records were being destroyed in the environment department that should not have been.
“Based on some of the information we received in the complaint leads me to believe it is a legitimate concern that someone has,” he said.
The investigation will examine if documents were destroyed according to the rules. Neither of the commissioners had the authority to stop the shredding. A few hours later, Notley asked all shredding of government documents stop until the new government resumes control.
Concerns began when photos of bags of shredded documents started lining the hallways of the Alberta legislature.
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