Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has adopted 72 secret orders-in-council — hidden from Parliament and Canadians — since coming to office, CBC News has learned.
A review by CBC News of nearly 8,900 orders-in-council (OICs) — or cabinet decrees — adopted by the federal government shows the number of secret or unpublished OICs has been rising since Trudeau came to power in 2015.
The only outside indication that a secret OIC even exists is a missing number in the Privy Council’s orders-in-council database. OICs have a wide range of applications, from stopping a foreign company from buying a Canadian business to outlining who is authorized to give the order to shoot down a commercial airliner hijacked by terrorists.
More than half of the secret orders-in-council adopted by the Trudeau government have arrived since April 2020, a month after the COVID-19 pandemic began. Eleven have been adopted so far this year.
While the Liberals criticized the Conservatives in 2015 for the number of secret OICs they adopted, Trudeau’s government has adopted more than twice as many over its years in office.
The Trudeau government adopted five secret orders-in-council in 2016, seven in 2017, eight in 2018 and 12 in 2019. It adopted none in 2015. The number of new secret OICs spiked at 21 in 2020 before dropping to eight in 2021.
The four secret OIC’s adopted in 2015 were adopted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government.
The government can cite a small number of reasons for exempting an order-in-council from publication — such as national security or military operations, or because the OIC in question is related to national security reviews of proposed foreign investments in Canadian companies.
Fuel for conspiracy theories
Opposition critics say there can be legitimate reasons for adopting secret OICs — but they’re concerned by the large number of them adopted by the Trudeau government. They say they also fear that the government’s refusal to reveal anything about the secret OICs could fuel misinformation or conspiracy theories.
Some of the secret OICs were adopted under the Investment Canada Act. It allows the government to avoid publishing cabinet orders related to national security reviews of certain transactions, such as a foreign company’s purchase of a Canadian business.
Laurie Bouchard, spokesperson for Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, said 32 of the secret OICs adopted between November 2015 — when the Trudeau government came to power — and March 31, 2021 were related to the Investment Canada Act.
The government adopted 55 secret OICs during that time period.
Bouchard said the number of secret OICs specifically related to the Investment Canada Act is not yet available for the period of March 31, 2021 to the present. During that period, the government adopted 17 secret orders-in-council.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper answers a question during question period in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 2, 2015. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
During a six-year period under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, eight secret orders-in-council were introduced that were related to the Investment Canada Act, said Bouchard. During that period — April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2015 — the Harper government adopted 22 secret orders-in-council.
But the Investment Canada Act would only explain a portion of the secret OICs that have been adopted.
The Privy Council has refused to release at least two of the secret OICs adopted this year, citing a section of federal access to information law that allows the government to keep secret documents which, if revealed, “could reasonably be expected to be injurious to the conduct of international affairs, the defence of Canada or any state allied or associated with Canada, or the detection, prevention or suppression of subversive or hostile activities.”
One of those two OICs was adopted between Jan. 28 and Feb. 1, 2022. The second was adopted on Feb. 18.
Police officers push back protesters in front of the Senate of Canada building on Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
The first of those two OICs was adopted around the time the convoy protest began to occupy downtown Ottawa. The second was adopted as police began arresting protest leaders and were about to launch an operation to clear protesters from the streets.
That second secret OIC also appeared a few days before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. COVID-19 was also continuing to spread at the time.
The Privy Council Office refused to reveal any details of the OICs or their subjects.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky greets Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the two leaders arrive for a joint press conference in Kyiv on May 8, 2022. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)
Four more secret orders-in-council were adopted around May 6 — the day before Trudeau’s surprise trip to Ukraine. The one OIC in that sequence that was published added Russian individuals and entities to Canada’s sanctions list.
The Prime Minister’s Office won’t say whether those OICs were related to the conflict in Ukraine.
The five remaining secret OICs of 2022 were adopted between March and May.
Privy Council won’t say why orders were kept secret
Beyond revealing that two orders-in-council were being kept secret under access to information law, the Privy Council refuses to explain the grounds used to justify keeping secret the other unpublished OICs, or to say whether any of the secret OICs are related to the COVID-19 pandemic or renewals of previous orders.
The Privy Council Office said in a media statement that it believes in transparency.
“The number of orders that either are, or are not, published in any given year is not a proxy measure for transparency of government,” PCO spokesperson Pierre-Alain Bujold said in the statement.
“That is because the legislative, socio-economic and national security context evolves and changes significantly year over year.”
Normally, orders-in-council are published on a Privy Council website where Canadians and parliamentarians can see them. But an exception can be made for OICs that meet a very narrow list of conditions that allow them to remain unpublished or secret.
Britain’s Prince Charles shakes hands with Governor General Mary Simon in Ottawa on May 18, 2022. Because the Governor General can sign a secret order-in-council that has been signed by only four cabinet ministers, some members of cabinet might not know about them. (Carlos Osorio/Reuters)
Some cabinet ministers may not even know about them. While OICs must be signed by the Governor General, convention states that only four members of cabinet have to sign the documents first.
Former Privy Council officials say OICs are supposed to be kept secret only in rare circumstances because publicity is the only real check on their use.
In 2015, Privy Council officials said secret orders-in-council were being kept in a safe, separate from other OICs, and cabinet ministers were only being briefed on them in rooms that had no wireless access.
Privy Council officials now refuse to confirm whether those same security measures are still in place.
A review by CBC News of secret orders-in-council since 2002 found none adopted in 2002 or 2003 under then-prime minister Jean Chrétien, while three were adopted in 2004 and 2005 under then-prime minister Paul Martin.
Secret orders-in-council were rare under the government of Paul Martin. (Tom Hanson/The Canadian Press)
That number began to rise under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, fuelled in part by provisions adopted in 2009 requiring that OICs stemming from national security reviews under the Investment Canada Act be left unpublished.
During its nine years in office, the Harper government adopted 29 secret orders-in-council.
Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong said Trudeau promised a more open and accountable government.
“While unpublished orders-in-council are sometimes necessary, the number of unpublished orders-in-council under this government raises concerns,” he said. “It’s incumbent on the government to provide a more detailed explanation of why the number of unpublished orders-in-council [has] increased.”
Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong says he wants to know why the number of secret orders-in-council has increased under the Trudeau government. (Joe Fiorino/CBC)
NDP ethics critic Matthew Green questioned why Canada doesn’t have an arms-length, third party non-partisan review of orders-in-council.
“There is a growing propensity of this government to have everything be categorized as national security,” said Green.
Green Party Parliamentary Leader Elizabeth May said she was surprised by the number of secret OICs — particularly given the cooperation between the government and opposition parties to adopt emergency measures at the outset of the pandemic.
May said the government should give Canadians some indication of why an order-in-council has to be secret.
“I think they should provide a general descriptor if they’re not going to make an order-in-council public, say that this is a national security concern involving our use of the such-and-such act,” May said.
“But to have that many orders-in-council … without any indication as to what they were is not transparency.”
Three secret Harper government OICs unveiled
While the Trudeau government’s 72 secret orders-in-council remain cloaked in secrecy, the subjects of three of the Harper government’s secret OICs are known.
In 2017, the Department of National Defence accidentally released improperly redacted briefing records for the chief of defence staff to CBC News. It revealed that Order in Council 2010-0192, adopted between Feb. 11 and Feb. 16, 2010, was related to NORAD’s Operation Noble Eagle. It outlined who was authorized to give the order to shoot down a commercial airliner in the event of a terrorist air attack.
Order in Council 2010-1639, adopted sometime between Dec. 23 and 31, 2010, authorized the military to assist law enforcement agencies such as the RCMP in the event of “a more traditional hijacking scenario where a disgruntled individual may want to take out his aggressions on a company headquarters or specific person(s), or even the government.”
Order in Council 2015-1070 blocked a Chinese company, O-Net Communications, from buying the Montreal-area company ITF Technologies. O-Net filed for a judicial review in Federal Court, which granted the application. O-Net Communications now owns ITF Technologies.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia’s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
