Morton cleared after investigation into 2nd email

Alberta cabinet minister Ted Morton did not conceal or destroy emailsto evade public scrutiny of those records, an independentinvestigation concludes.

Provincial privacy commissioner Frank Work opened theinvestigation after CBC News reportedMorton used a secondary email for his internal communications while he was the minister for sustainable resourcedevelopmentin an apparrent attempt to evade public scrutiny.

Emails leaked to CBC News show Morton, now Alberta's energy minister,used the name Frederick Lee his actual first and middle names as an email address.

"We found no evidence of an intent to use this email address to delay or defeat the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act," said Work.

While the secondary address, in effect,shielded the documents from information requests through the FOIP Act, the concealment was notdone as part of conspiracy to evade or defeat the act, he said.

"The emails were kept," said Work. "Unfortunately they weren't necessarily as accessible as they should have been."

A government spokesman said Morton would not be commenting onWork's report because he believes it "speaks for itself."

Ministry FOIP co-ordinatorin the dark

The ministrywas able to provide the investigator with emails with the name Frederick Lee from 2007 to 2009.

Morton's use of the Frederick Lee email address was known within he ministry and by outside organizations that communicated with the ministry, said Work.

However, the FOIP co-ordinator for the Morton'sdepartment did not know about the secondary address and therefore could not have searched for any email using it, he admitted.

Whileemails from secondary addresses aredifficult to search using the FOIP Act,there is no rule preventing any minister from using them,Work said.

The investigation "has been a real eye-opening exercise," said Work."If [the emails] can't be found, it defeats people's ability to have access to them."

Theinvestigator accepts the secondary address was used to managethe large volume of emails sent toMortons public ministerial email address.

That's contrary to what former ministryemployee Derek Forsythe told CBC Newslast month.

He told CBC News and the commission's investigator that during a staffmeeting in July 2007, the minister'scommunications director explainedthat Morton was using theFrederick Lee address so the email couldn't be tracked.

Interviews withother staff members who attended themeeting did not corroborate Forsythe'saccount,said Work.

Morton not interviewed

While the investigatorinterviewed16people including the FOIP co-ordinator for sustainable resource development, Mortons former executive assistant and his former communications director, Morton himself was not interviewed, said Work.

"I didn't think it was critical," said Work. "I wanted to know what went on at the meeting and why the emails weren't available.

"If I was going to do over again, yeah I would [interview Morton]," he said.

The investigation did find a number offaults with the government's email tracking system,said Work.

He pointed to one email specifically requested by the CBC as a case in point.

In the email, Morton directs his staff to make a significant change to legislation regarding Mtis land rights.

Under government rules, any such email can be destroyed once the legislation itself is passed.

Rules may need to be changed

"There may be some issues there," said Work. "It could be thatthe definition of transitory records need to be reviewed."

The investigation found no emails were wrongfully shredded when Morton left the ministry, but raised another concern for Work.

When a minister moves from a department, all records have to be managed, eitherarchived for posterity or judged tobetransitory and disposed of, he said.

"When that transition is madeprocess should be handled by a trained FOIP co-ordinator as opposed to ministerial office staff," said Work.

Liberal MLA LaurieBlakeman said she understandsthe commissioner'srulingbut disagrees with him.

"I think[Morton] did intend to make his communications more difficult to access," she said.

"Even if it was well known in the ministry that this was his secondary name, it's not well known in the public."

In his final month in office, Work said he willlook at goverment management of ministerial emails.