Liberals raise disclosure concerns with Emergencies Act review
‘We also know we have to protect national security’: Holland
OTTAWA A senior Liberal minister says the government has “two competing interests” when it comes to sharing information about its use of the Emergencies Act: transparency and protecting national security.
Government House leader Mark Holland was responding Tuesday to questions about what information the Liberals will provide to a judge tapped to lead an independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the declaration of an emergency.
While the government says Ontario Appeal Court Justice Paul Rouleau will have broad access to classified documents, it has not said whether that will include access to secret documents held by Trudeau’s cabinet.
That has sparked questions and frustration from civil liberties organizations and opposition parties who worry the inquiry will not be given access to key documents about closed-door discussions and decisions by ministers.
Holland said the government will provide as much information as possible so Canadians have “an absolutely crystal clear picture, right up to the point that it’s not injurious to national security.”
“We have two competing interests,” he told reporters ahead of a planned cabinet meeting in Parliament’s West Block.
“The most important thing we can do is make sure the public has all the information they need to see clearly why decisions were made and how they were made. But we also know we have to protect national security. Those are difficult things to balance.”
The Liberals and opposition parties have previously butted heads when it comes to transparency and national security, notably over the government’s refusal to hand over documents about the firing of two scientists at Canada’s highest security laboratory.
Little is publicly known about the firing of scientists Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, who were escorted out of Winnipeg’s National Microbiology Laboratory in July 2019.
The Liberal government declared an emergency under the act for the first time in history on Feb. 14, granting extraordinary temporary powers to police to clear people out and to banks to freeze the accounts of some of those involved. The temporary powers meant protesters could face fines up to $5,000 or five years in prison.