OTTAWA– The Liberal Party of Canada is proposing changes to the House of Commons Standing Orders to clarify the limited times when it is appropriate for parliamentary committees to take their business behind closed doors, said Liberal Leader Bob Rae and Liberal House Leader Marc Garneau today.
“This week, the government introduced Bill C-30, legislation that represents the most aggressive step ever taken to police the internet and allow the state to intrude on Canadians’ privacy,” said Mr. Rae. “If the last six months are any indication, the Harper Conservatives will invoke closure to limit debate very shortly and then send the bill to a committee where they will hold secret meetings that the Canadian public won’t be able to watch. This is unaccountable and unacceptable. Conservatives are making a mockery of Parliament by systematically abusing the rules and forcing committees to conduct their business behind closed doors and it cannot go on.”
Since June, the Conservatives have opted to hold more and more committee business behind closed doors in secret in-camera meetings in order to avoid accountability and keep the public in the dark. In the short life of this Parliament, the Harper Conservatives have used their majority to force House committees behind closed doors depriving Canadians of their democratic right to know what is going on in Parliament. They have shut out Canadians on important issues ranging from the Omnibus Crime Bill, to the G8 Legacy Fund and even privacy issues for veterans. Some of the worst occurrences include, the House of Commons Committee on the Status of Women which met in secret 38% of the time and the House of Commons Veterans Affairs Committee which met in secret 31% of the time. In fact, just yesterday the Conservatives forced the Veterans Affairs Committee behind closed doors in order to prevent the adoption of a Liberal motion to protect veterans’ privacy.
“By forcing committee meetings to take place in secret, this Conservative government is denying Canadians the right to see how Members of Parliament are voting and hold them accountable for their actions,” said Mr. Garneau. “Liberals have always believed that parliamentary committee meetings should be held in public except in the most exceptional circumstances and never used as a matter of course as this Conservative government has done. To combat these abuses we are proposing changes to the Standing Orders that would prevent abuse by defining limited and very specific reasons for which committees can go in-camera.”
The Liberal proposal will be raised during a Take Note Debate in the House of Commons on Friday of this week, and will be brought before the House of Commons Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC) for consideration.
Background:
The full text of the Liberal Standing Order is as follows:
| All committee meetings to be public | (1) Except as provided in section (2) below, all meetings of standing, special, or legislative committees shall be held in public and only after public notice. |
| ExceptionsReason must be given | (2) A standing, special, or legislative committee may decide to hold an in camera meeting to discuss its business only when dealing with any of the following: (a) wages, salaries and other employee benefits; (b) contract negotiations; labour relations, or other personnel matters; (c) information that cannot be disclosed publicly without demonstrably putting national security at risk; (d) an item of business that cannot be discussed in public without disclosing information supplied in confidence such as legal advice supplied in confidence; and\or (e) consideration of any draft report of the committee.(3) A motion proposed under section (2) above must identify the grounds on which the Member proposing it believes should give rise to the exclusion of the public. |
