BC Politics with Hubert Beyer

VICTORIA -- If Premier Vander Zalm's office believes it is in the interest of news dissemination and open government to secretly listen in on press conferences, it's time we all have our offices swept for bugs.

Last week, the premier's office confirmed that proceedings in the press theatre, located directly below Vander Zalm's offices, have been routinely fed to a loudspeaker in his press secretary's office.

The revelation may be of Watergate proportions, and I can't get all that worked up about it, but it's a bit galling, nevertheless. To top it off, the premier's office offered the NDP a similar direct feed into its offices.

The premier, on a business trip, wasn't available for comment, but acting premier Claude Richmond couldn't see anything wrong with bugging the press theatre.

"Any measure taken to enhance the availability of information emanating from news conferences is extremely beneficial and conducive to open government," the minister of social services and housing said.

Begging your pardon, minister, but I think you've got a somewhat twisted concept of open government and ethics. Any transmission of any proceedings without the knowledge of those affected is wrong. As a radio man, Richmond should know that.

Needless to say, the NDP is upset about the whole thing, and it's easy to see why. The opposition doesn't really want its press conferences piped to the premier's office. True, the news emanating from press conferences is usually on the air half an hour later and in the papers next day. So what's wrong with the government listening in?

Well, it's not uncommon for reporters to talk off the record to let's say Mike Harcourt after a press conference. He may talk about his party's strategy with respect to a particular issue. Such comments are certainly not meant to be overheard by the premier's office.

The same goes for reporters. I could think of any number of remarks I might have made to politicians, following a press conference, remarks I wouldn't necessarily want overheard by Big Brother Bill.

Moe Sihota, the NDP's MLA for Esquimalt-Port Renfrew, has asked Attorney General Bud Smith to investigate whether any wire-tapping laws have been broken.

The only government member who has, so far, expressed opposition to the practice of bugging the press theatre is former cabinet minister Grace McCarthy. She said she didn't know about the feed and resents the surreptitious manner in which it was installed. Meanwhile, Barry Bell, president of the legislative press gallery, has asked the government to disconnect the feed. "It has been the practice in the legislature for the person in charge of the news conference to decide if anyone else -- such as a member of another party or an interested member of the public ª© may also be present," Bell said in a letter to the premier's office.

"To have an electronic feed of news conferences available to government officials violates this procedure and such eavesdropping is at the very least unethical," Bell said. He added that the matter also raises the question of whether it is contrary to the Criminal Code provisions concerning wire-tapping. The not so clever scheme was brought to light by a member of the government's privatization work group. He told a reporter that they had listened in on a press conference by the NDP's Dale Lovic in the office of Bill Bachop, former press secretary to the premier, now employed in the government's Public Affairs Bureau.

Asked for an explanation, Bachop used the ploy he so often despised in politicians when he was still a reporter. He declined comment. How soon they forget.

The best hope to get rid of the damned tap is Ian Jessop, the premier's new press secretary. Jessop has only been in his job for a few weeks. He was a good reporter and he may still be able to recognize an unethical government practice if he sees one. Jessop may also be able to convince the premier that the perceived advantages of the direct feed from the press theatre aren't worth the bad publicity.

A resolution of the issue may have to await the premier's return. In the meantime, some members of the gallery have suggested a rather imaginative method of striking back at the government's listening post. They propose to feed the sound track of a hard-core porn movie down the pipe at the next press conference.

I doubt that much will come of that idea, if only for the reason that nobody might be willing to rent the porn movie. Can you imagine telling the guy behind the counter "it's not for me, it's for the premier's office?"