Health Minister Josie Osborne said the MLA’s action in releasing a “confidential document” was “appalling” because it risked compromising a police investigation into the illicit trade.
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Not so, said Sturko. She’d checked with the appropriate authorities and confirmed that the version she’d released — minus names and other identifying details — posed no threat to ongoing investigation.
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A few days after Osborne levelled her accusation, the director of policing services fired off a letter to the RCMP’s acting commanding officer for B.C., Will Ng.
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“I am writing to request an investigation into the unauthorized disclosure of government information related to the investigation of diverted safer supply,” wrote Lewis on Feb. 10.
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The Health Ministry document “included sensitive information including investigative information,” he went on to say. With that, the investigation was underway.
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Later in February, the health minister had to admit that Sturko was right. Osborne announced that henceforth safer supply drugs could only be consumed in the presence of witnesses, to preclude the diversions that had been well documented by her own ministry.
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Given the embarrassing circumstances for the NDP — the truth about diversion, the backlash over the leak, and then the backdown on safer supply — someone in the government may well have wished to be rid of Sturko’s troublesome...
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