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If we had learned nothing else from the nine years of Liberal power in Ottawa, we would know this: secrecy is one of this government’s greatest obsessions.

This has also been the case for numerous parliamentary committees over the years, when requests for information relating to official investigations have been ignored, rejected or postponed to be re-examined at some point by someone who finds the time to do so.

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Immigration Minister Marc Miller took the opportunity to give a cabinet minister a chance to remove a public embarrassment from the headlines when he commented on the case of Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi and his son Mostafa Eldidi. The two were, according to the RCMP, “in the advanced stages of planning a serious, violent attack in Toronto.” They face nine terrorism charges.

“I’m as disgusted as any Canadian, but I have a responsibility to get to the bottom of this and that’s what I’m going to do,” Miller said, amid reports that the elder Eldidi once appeared in a gruesome torture video commissioned by the terrorist organization ISIS but somehow managed to gain entry to Canada and become a Canadian citizen. “I think Canadians deserve answers. I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”

How far is he willing to go? For example, will he reveal how the Eldidis had to go through security checks to be admitted to the country and engage in activities that the RCMP say include conspiracy to commit murder?

Uh, no. He won’t promise to go that far. “The information I can share in the context of a criminal case may be limited, but my primary concern is to make sure Canadians are safe and that we don’t jeopardize an ongoing legal process,” Miller said. A potential criminal case is everyone’s favorite justification for assuring Canadians that their safety remains a top priority, without providing even the slightest detail about what is being done to protect them.

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There is also privacy to protect. And the secrecy of cabinet meetings. And a public witch hunt to avoid. And the reputation of public officials to protect. And there are diplomatic concerns about “confidential communications between states.” Whatever the reason, the Trudeau Liberals find reasons to hide information.

One example is their staunch refusal to disturb the coddled corridors of upper management at the country’s heavily subsidised public broadcaster. Despite months of controversy, the Trudeau government still won’t say how it feels about the $18.4 million the CBC paid out in bonuses, citing poverty and the need to cut staff. The CBC’s board approved the bonuses in June but would not say who was getting how much until blocked by the Freedom of Information Act. Catherine Tait, the public broadcaster’s chief executive, remains in a special position, however; a bonus for her requires government approval, and Ottawa repeatedly refused to disclose its plans – citing privacy laws – until it said Thursday it had not yet made a decision. Once it does, we probably won’t know because the CBC — which receives about $1.4 billion in public funding and received an additional $42 million this year — insists on keeping such matters confidential. The people who provide their funds have no right to know how the money is being spent.

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The Liberals’ strict intent to keep Canadians in the dark starts at the top, where the prime minister has spent part of the summer making public appearances while his office issues daily travel schedules claiming he will do nothing of the sort. Veteran journalist Paul Wells wrote on his news site Substack that the prime minister is “on a national campaign tour” but “lies about it daily.” The lie is found in the daily travel schedule sent to news outlets, which was supposed to disclose his official duties but has recently claimed Trudeau has no public events scheduled, only to have him show up in full campaign spirit at numerous events across the country. The travel schedule was later changed to note his appearance after the fact, when it was too late for the media to be there.

The opposition’s efforts to extract information from the government have resulted in days of futile efforts at committee meetings and public hearings, with government ministers, staff and officials dithering, hesitating, evading and holding off rather than offering even the slightest hint of relevant information to an ever-growing series of strange events. How could a man with Eldidi’s alleged past be granted Canadian citizenship? Why did the tip-off that led to his arrest have to come from France rather than from immigration or public security inspectors? What kind of preliminary screening was done before it was accepted?

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And how could the government fail to expose questionable activities by a newly appointed head of the Canadian Human Rights Commission who resigned a week ago, before working a single day in his new position? Why did Justice Minister Arif Virani first say Birju Dattani had “taken leave” of his post, only to have him resign five days later? “Maintaining the trust of all Canadians in the Canadian Human Rights Commission remains my top priority,” Virani declared after weeks of uncertainty and confusion that can have left outsiders with no confidence in the commission or its political master. His office will not disclose whether Dattani received severance pay for resigning from a post he never held. Personal privacy, you know.

The result of all this secrecy is a series of committee meetings called by opposition parties in the vain hope that the Liberals might actually delight the public with some facts. The hearings into the multi-layered ArriveCan scandal have lasted several sessions, but despite regular, alarming revelations, have come no closer to clearing up the mess. Tait was twice unsuccessfully summoned before a committee looking into staff cuts and finances at the CBC, where she insisted that staff were not receiving real bonuses but “performance-related allowances” in addition to their salaries.

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The parliamentary committee on public safety and national security has commissioned an investigation into the situation in Eldidi and wants both Minister Miller and Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc to testify as witnesses. If they do appear, neither Miller nor LeBlanc are likely to be much more candid than the parade of ministers summoned before other committees. They need to protect their privacy. And the secrecy of their cabinet meetings. And their reputations. And they worry about potential legal action. All of this clearly takes precedence over informing Canadians what is going on and who should be held accountable.

National Post

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