Toews Twitter leaker to testify soon, lawyer says

OTTAWA – Two words were all that a social media officer for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews could say when he was made aware of the trending Twitter hashtag poking fun at his boss.

“Good heavens.”

That was the reaction David Glazer had, not to the “don’t toews me” hashtag which he knew of on the morning of Feb. 16, but to the “Tellviceverything” hashtag his colleague, Jessica Turner, alerted him about.

The email is one of hun- dreds sent in the hours and days that the now-infamous Vikileaks30 Twitter account existed, released under an access-to-information request.

Parts of the emails have been redacted with the department citing only “suppression of crime” as the reason for not releasing the full records.

The emails show that Toews’s staff flagged “contentious tweets” and tried to keep on top of the online backlash that ensued after Toews tabled the government’s online surveillance bill and suggested people could either side with the government on it or with child pornographers.

One day after Toews tabled Bill C-30, his department had found the Vikileaks30 Twitter account, which was putting out portions of Toews’s divorce proceedings in 140-character bites.

“There’s been a fake account created that is parodying the minister,” Turner wrote to department communications director Andrew Swift at 11:41 a.m. on Feb. 15.

The Tellviceverything hashtag has not disappeared from Twitter, and a House of Commons committee is expected to soon hear from the person behind the Vikileaks30 account, former Liberal re- searcher Adam Carroll.

On Wednesday, Carroll’s lawyer, Paul Champ, said his client may testify before the committee as early as next week.

The ethics committee has no scheduled meetings for next week.

Bill C-30 is supposed to return to the Commons for debate before being sent to committee for review.

The government has taken the unusual step of saying it will send the bill for committee review before second reading, which gives parliamentarians more powers to make changes to the legislation.