Liberal government increases secrecy over multibillion-dollar defence purchases

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The Liberal government has increased the secrecy over three multibillion-dollar military equipment purchases just as more tax dollars are being directed into the projects.

Documents requested under the Access to Information law about the F-35 stealth fighter jet and the Canadian Surface Combatant project were withheld for three years and are only now being released with information censored.

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Some of the data censored from the records and now considered secret had been made public previously.

In addition, National Defence is still withholding records about the armed drone program that were requested in July 2020 even though defence officials have provided similar information at public conferences.

“The whole thing is ridiculous and raises issues about government accountability,” said Alan Williams, the former assistant deputy minister in charge of procurement at National Defence. He is one of one of a number of individuals who have tried unsuccessfully to obtain information about defence procurements using the access law.

In the case of the F-35, the number of Canadian companies that were involved in the U.S. stealth fighter project in 2019 is secret, according to the newly released records from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. In addition, ISED censored from the documents the public email of the National Defence office that is overseeing the F-35 purchase.

In a second release of records, this one from National Defence, almost all details about costs associated with the Canadian Surface Combatant, or CSC, have been censored. That program is expected to cost around $80 billion, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

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Those CSC records, requested by Williams, were withheld for three years.

Williams pointed out he created the cost records and briefing documents while he was assistant deputy minister. “I know for a fact that there is no valid reason to withhold this information,” he said. “The government officials should be embarrassed and ashamed of their conduct. They are making a mockery of the (access law).”

Tamara Lorincz, a PhD candidate at the Balsillie School for International Affairs at the University of Waterloo, requested the 32 pages of F-35 records from ISED. Lorincz said the secrecy over that $19-billion program was unsettling.

“Canadians deserve to know what the actual costs and benefits are when the F-35 continues to be plagued with serious production problems and technical deficiencies,” she added.

In an email on Thursday, ISED said it was committed to transparency, and “rigorously upholds its responsibilities under the access law.” It pointed out that the department withheld information “based on its own analysis and input from other implicated stakeholders.”

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Lorincz has also been trying, without success, since July 2020 to get briefing documents under the access law from National Defence about the $2.5-billion armed drone program.

National Defence said in an email to this newspaper that it made every effort to provide timely responses to requests for information and was working to improve how it released records under the access law.

But such censorship about expensive military equipment programs is becoming more common even as the Liberal government proceeds with spending billions of dollars more on such acquisitions, critics say.

In January, this newspaper reported that National Defence withheld other documents on the CSC program requested almost three years ago by researcher Ken Rubin. The records outlined the specific costs and work done by Irving Shipbuilding on CSC, but almost all figures and specific work details were censored from the 1,700 pages released.

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada also continues to withhold records showing the number of jobs being created by the various multi-billion dollar naval shipbuilding programs, Rubin said.

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He suggested the records were still being withheld because they showed job creation from shipbuilding program wasn’t as significant as politicians had claimed.

The secrecy on military equipment programs and other related issues has become so bad that the House of Commons Committee on National Defence launched hearings into the lack of openness and transparency. Besides details on military equipment procurements, records needed by soldiers, including military sexual assault survivors, for various legal purposes and to apply for benefits are being withheld.

In her Feb. 12 testimony to the Commons defence committee, Taylor Paxton, the corporate secretary for National Defence, stated department staff worked hard to ensure access requests were answered within the 30 days required by law. “Sometimes it takes longer than the 30 days,” she told MPs.

Defence Minister Bill Blair, however, acknowledged to the same committee that the department missed such legal deadlines in 40 per cent of the requests it received.

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