I still can't believe this

The story that came out several days ago about top Liberal staffers in the Ontario provincial government — including those in the Premier's office — caught deleting e-mails from their systems is wrong on multiple levels:

• it runs contrary to the desire to keep all such communications as part of the historical record
• retention is mandated under the province's Archives and Recordkeeping Act, 2006
• even if the Act's penalties are weak, observance is the honourable thing to do
• there are relatively cheap means that could have been implemented to ensure that deletion could not have taken place (I particularly recommend the solution provided by Mailstore, but there are others)

There have been many spectacular stories in recent years about how this province's government has been mismanaged, but this story serves as a microcosm for the entire affair.