Order in council secrets

Two dozen secret cabinet decisions hidden from Parliament, Canadians

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has made more than two dozen secret cabinet decisions, hiding any trace of them from Parliament and Canadians, iPolitics has learned.

A review by iPolitics of more than 21,000 orders-in-council published on the Privy Council’swebsite since 2004 found that 25 OICs adopted by the Harper government are missing. Only three OICs adopted by the previous Liberal government between 2004 and 2005 aren’t in the database.

Eight orders-in-council issued since last September are missing.

Privy Council officials confirm that the missing OICs are not published, saying they deal with areas such as national security, defence or commercially sensitive information.

The decisions are so secret that they are kept in a safe, separate from other orders-in-council — and cabinet ministers are only briefed on them in rooms without wireless devices.

Beyond the number of OICs missing from the database, Parliament and the public have been given no indication these orders exist. The Harper cabinet hasn’t indicated the nature of these decisions or the reasons for keeping them secret.

READ MORE: http://ipolitics.ca/2015/09/02/two-dozen-secret-cabinet-decisions-hidden-from-parliament-canadians/