Liberals, NDP turn down Tory offer of TPP briefing

Fearing political trickery, the Liberals and the NDP summarily rejected Thursday’s offer by the federal Conservative government of a line-by-line briefing on the text of the newly minted Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

The offer — refused almost as quickly as it was made public — made clear that the text of the deal, promised last week within a matter of days by Trade Minister Ed Fast, wouldn’t be out before Monday’s federal election.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said the text is still being crafted by the governments of Canada and its 11 Pacific Rim partner countries and will be released as soon as it is available. But he offered no other details.

“The 12 countries continue to work on that,” Harper said. “We have released detailed summaries, detailed chapter summaries. We will release the text as soon as it is available.”

A spokesman for Fast refused to elaborate.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said he could not agree to “a private briefing that leaves Canadians in the dark.”

He accused Fast of breaking his “promise” to publicize the deal.

“Instead of openness and transparency, Canadians are learning details through leaked information and the government’s own self-serving promotional efforts. That’s not acceptable,” Mulcair said in a statement.

In a letter to Harper, Liberal candidate John McCallum also sent his party’s regrets, calling the invitation “a political ploy.”

“The requirement to sign a confidentiality agreement and retain information ‘ under embargo’ does not meet the Liberal Party of Canada’s high standard for transparency,” he wrote.

Further, it would be impossible to do a meaningful analysis of the 1,500-page agreement in just 90 minutes, McCallum added.

“Due to your continued lack of transparency and refusal to be straight with Canadians, we will not participate in your political games.”