The Sixth Estate

My study of Parliamentary secrecy, rejuvenated by CP’s bogus numbers claiming to prove that the Martin majority was much more secretive than the Harper majority, continues. Unlike the House as a whole, committees regularly go in camera, meaning no observers may be present, and no detailed records of testimony or debates are published. As I recently showed, on the whole, House committees have spent over 25% of their time in secret over the past year, compared with 22.5% under Martin — not a tremendously large change.

Some committees, however, have undergone a much more dramatic change. The Public Accounts Committee, for instance, which hears such controversial subjects as the Auditor-General’s reports to Parliament, met in camera for a total of 116 hours under the Liberals between 1997 (the earliest date that proper online minutes are available) and 2005; in contrast, since 2006, it has amassed 148 hours in secret.

And as you can see, there is a distinct upward trend in secrecy, at least at this particular committee. The following chart shows the percentage of time it spent meeting in camera in Parliamentary sessions since 1997:

The Open Government project will have regular updates as I compile data from more committees. The chart above includes only the standing committee itself; its subcommittees have not yet been tabulated.

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