LOL! ELEVEN! KTHXBYE!

Oh, the kids today, with their Walkmen and their cordless telephones and what-not. Are all the doodads and doohickeys really worth the trouble you can get into?

It seems a certain provincial cabinet minister whipped out his Crackberry a little while ago and fired off a prompt email — eschewing punctuation, as is the fashion these days — to a fellow Crackberry correspondent:

From: "Hickey, John" jhickey@gov.nl.ca
Date: Tue, 1 Dec 2009 16:47:58 -0330
To: mattpike14@bell.blackberry.net
Subject: Re: 5 Wing Goose Bay

Matt 5 wing is alive and well You need to grow up Don't e-mail me again
Department of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
P.O.Box 8700 St. John’s, NL Canada A1B 4J6
Sent Via BlackBerry

----- Original Message -----
From: mattpike14@bell.blackberry.net
To: Hickey, John
Sent: Tue Dec 01 16:36:37 2009
Subject: 5 Wing Goose Bay

Mr. Hickey:
I hope that we will hear an update on where government is on the 5 Wing file this session.
Respectfully,

Matthew Pike

The minister was asked to answer for his e e cummings style in the House of Whatever It’s Called yesterday, but he gave a much more interesting response outside the chamber. As the Ceeb reports:

Hickey defended his response in the legislature, and later told CBC News that information requests are not supposed to be made directly to him or his department.

"If you're too lazy to put in your request through the [Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act], then don't certainly harass me as a minister looking for it," he said.

You see, the thing is, there is no obligation on anyone to fill out a form and shell out five bucks every single time they want mere information from the government. As the Department of Justice hilariously but ever-so-helpfully advises you:

The ATIPPA is not meant to replace existing means of obtaining information. Before you make a request using the legislation, you may wish to try other, informal means to obtain the records you are seeking. Contact the public body which you believe has the records. Often, you can get the information you want in this informal way, without using the legislation. This route will often be faster for you and less expensive for public bodies to administer.

And goodness knows, these days, Danny Williams-Government is oh-so-very concerned about the costs of handling formal Access to Information requests.

Minister Hickey should perhaps get in touch with Justice Minister Felix Collins, to clarify the government’s policy with regards to informal methods of obtaining information. Minister Collins can be reached by email at felixcollins@gov.nl.ca

Who knows, maybe that account is even synched to his Crackberry.