BC Commissioner to leave post, become Deputy AG

BC Information and Privacy Commissioner David Loukidelis is leaving the post to become Deputy Attorney General of BC. Here's the official release:

GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES KEY APPOINTMENT

Jan. 20, 2010

Office of the Premier

GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES KEY APPOINTMENT

VICTORIA – David Loukidelis has been appointed Deputy Attorney General. The appointment will be effective February 1, 2010.

Loukidelis will replace acting Deputy Attorney General, Jerry McHale, Q.C., who was appointed in October 2009 on an interim basis after Allan Seckel, Q.C., was appointed Deputy Minister to the Premier, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the British Columbia Public Service.

Loukidelis previously served as the Information and Privacy Commissioner for the Province of British Columbia since 1999. Loukidelis has become an internationally-recognized expert in access to information and privacy protection issues, and has written hundreds of access-to-information and privacy decisions under B.C.’s public and private sector access and privacy laws. In addition to serving as Information and Privacy Commissioner, he has served as Registrar of Lobbyists under the Lobbyists Registration Act.

Loukidelis received his law degree in 1984 from Osgoode Hall Law School and qualified as a lawyer in British Columbia in 1985. He served as a clerk to a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada before moving on to the University of Oxford, where he received his bachelor of civil law in 1987. In 1980, he received a master of arts degree in English language and literature (medieval studies) from the University of Edinburgh.

An all-party committee of the legislature will select a new Information and Privacy Commissioner. An acting Information and Privacy Commissioner will be named in the near future.

From local media:

C-FAX 1070 - News

PRIVACY COMMISSIONER TO MOVE TO DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL

Jan 20, 2010

BC'S PRIVACY COMMISSIONER, DAVID LOUKIDELIS IS CHANGING JOBS. IN A STATEMENT FROM THE PROVINCE TODAY, IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT LOUKIDELIS HAS BEEN APPOINTED DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL EFFECTIVE FEBRUARY 1. AN ALL PARTY COMMITTEE WILL SELECT THE NEW PRIVACY COMMISSIONER, NONE OF THE CANDIDATES WERE NAMED WEDNESDAY. LOUKIDELIS REPLACES ACTING DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL JERRY MCHALE, APPOINTED IN OCTOBER 2009 AFTER ALLAN SECKEL WAS APPOINTED DEPUTY MINISTER TO THE PREMIER.

- LIZ MCARTHUR