Cabinet’s privacy pendulum has swung too far in the wrong direction
– that is, Britain, New Zealand and Australia. Even Canada’s own provinces are less secretive about cabinet records.
Only the most radical of transparency advocates want to eliminate cabinet secrecy. Experimental cabinet sessions that were opened to the public have been a flop, notably under former premier Gordon Campbell in British Columbia, starting in 2001. As one political columnist put it at the time, “there was zero debate and not much discussion” under the spotlight’s glare.
So I asked three staunch defenders of cabinet confidentiality – two former insiders and a law professor who once worked in the Privy Council Office, the home of cabinet – whether the current rules ensure enough transparency. The surprising answer is no. They say the rules need loosening. “We need a better test. Is this going to cause damage or not?” Any such test would have to be justiciable, that is, subject to adjudication by the courts on appeal, he says.
Mr. Wernick says the law should not be crafted for the “statistical outliers,” such as Mr. Chrétien or Herb Gray, who both served in cabinet under three Liberal prime ministers.
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