T1B

Tories flip-flop on release of ministerial agendas
Updated Sat. May. 6 2006 8:28 AM ET

Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- The Conservative government is moving to ban the release of prime ministerial agendas, a surprising change of heart after fighting the Liberals for the documents for years.

Government lawyers told Information Commissioner John Reid's office Friday that they intended to proceed with a Federal Court case over the prime minister's agendas, as well as those of other cabinet ministers.

"The new government has confirmed their instructions and they're moving ahead," said Daniel Brunet, a lawyer with the commissioner's office.

The case was born in 1999, when then Reform Party researcher Laurie Throness made six requests for then-prime minister Jean Chretien's agendas, detailing his daily appointments.

The Privy Council Office refused, Throness filed a complaint with the information commissioner, and the issue landed in Federal Court.

Now Throness is chief of staff to Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl, and in the strange position of having his name in court affidavits taken on behalf of the information commissioner.

Perhaps even stranger, the Harper government is effectively preventing Chretien's agendas from ever seeing the light of day.

Other requests for agendas of the transport and defence ministers, as well as RCMP records of the prime minister's agendas, have also landed in Federal Court.

The case has moved sluggishly, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees on both sides, and will likely take years to resolve. Former prime minister Paul Martin's office last summer had also indicated its intention to fight the release.

A Justice Department spokesman said parliamentarians can have their say during upcoming debates on reforming access-to-information laws.

New Democrat MP Pat Martin, who follows access-to-information issues, called the government decision "a stunning about-face."

"The fundamental basis is you have a right to know what the government is doing with your money, and that includes the movements of the prime minister," Martin said.

Since Harper was sworn in earlier this year, he has moved to curtail the flow of information about his office.

Visits of international dignitaries to Ottawa are not publicized, Harper's travel plans are only made public shortly before he arrives in a location, and reporters have been barred from the area directly outside cabinet meetings.

"It was the culture of secrecy that was allowed to flourish under the Liberals, and that seems to be the single identifiable motif of the Harper era so far, and that's almost compulsive secrecy," said Martin.

The Conservative government has recently come up against the information commissioner over proposed reforms to access laws.

He's prolly just applying a few tricks that he learned from the worst

Canadian Wrote:
Who? Brian Mulroney

I hope he does have a hidden agenda, and springs it on New Canada after he gets elected to a resounding majority

Canadian Wrote:
Well he hates the environment, dislikes First Nations people, sucks up to Bush, acts like Bush, dislikes poor people, gave tax breaks he bitched about in opposition to corporations, wants a US style justice system, hates the press, governs in secrecy, is a hypocrite when it comes to floor crossers and appointing senators.

I am just worried about what he is doing that has not come to light yet.

Thankfully he does not have a majority or the abortion and same sex marriage issue would be on the forfront.

This guy is nothing more than a bush wannabe and a bush yes man.

Canadian wrote:

I hope he does have a hidden agenda, and springs it on New Canada after he gets elected to a resounding majority

Well he hates the environment, dislikes First Nations people, sucks up to Bush, acts like Bush, dislikes poor people, gave tax breaks he bitched about in opposition to corporations, wants a US style justice system, hates the press, governs in secrecy, is a hypocrite when it comes to floor crossers and appointing senators.

I am just worried about what he is doing that has not come to light yet. Thankfully he does not have a majority or the abortion and same sex marriage issue would be on the forfront.

This guy is nothing more than a bush wannabe and a bush yes man.

The Conservative government has quietly made more changes to the protocol for lowering the flag on the Peace Tower.

The move follows a controversial decision this spring to stop lowering the iconic flag above Parliament's Centre Block upon the deaths of Canadian soldiers killed in action, a move that incensed many military families.

The flag honour was further circumscribed when a new protocol was posted without fanfare on Canadian Heritage's website on May 31.

"Given that such flags are recognized as paramount symbols of their nations, the act of half-masting is a dramatic visual statement that speaks to the sense of loss that is shared by all their citizens,'' state the new rules.

"It is in this context that the government of Canada wishes to further develop the principles that will determine the half-masting policy relative to the national flag of Canada as well as the precise arrangements to be put in place and exercised in a consistent and appropriate manner. Therefore, the government of Canada has adopted the rules hereto attached.''

The new protocol effectively limits full half-masting honours to the Queen, her immediate family and her representatives in Canada, sitting and former prime ministers, sitting cabinet ministers and the chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Privy councillors, sitting MPs, sitting senators and top foreign diplomats get the Peace Tower flag lowered only on the day of their funeral, rather than from the time of notification of death until the service.

The protocol change only came to light Friday upon the announcement of the death of longtime parliamentarian and Conserative Senator Mike Forrestall. The Peace Tower flag was not lowered, as would have been the practice under the old protocol, prompting media inquiries.

Neither the Prime Ministers' Office nor officials at Canadian Heritage returned phone calls Friday. And other offices on Parliament Hill appeared unaware of the protocol change.

Canada's minister of defence is waffling on an election promise to buy three icebreakers to strengthen Arctic sovereignty.

Gordon O'Connor said Thursday he's not ready to make that commitment yet and has asked his department to consider other options, as well. "Essentially what we want to do in the North is we want to be able to touch every speck of land and every drop of water in the North, even if there is ice there," said O'Connor. "I've asked the military to come up with various options." During the federal election campaign, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said if his party was elected it would buy three new naval icebreakers.