Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Irving tries to keep contract details secret

OTTAWA — Irving Shipbuilding Inc. is fighting through Canada’s federal court to keep its shipbuilding contract with the government secret.

The federal government has received an access to information request to release the umbrella agreements it signed with Irving and Seaspan Marine, the two main companies pegged to build Canada’s next fleet of ships.

Public Works and Government Services Canada notified Irving in September it plans to make public the umbrella agreement with the Halifax company.

Irving is now asking for a judicial review of the decision. Irving not only wants the umbrella agreement kept secret, but a ruling that would grant secrecy to many other shipbuilding documents as well.

Seaspan Marine of British Columbia has also applied for a judicial review.

The process began in April, shortly after the umbrella agreement was signed after months of negotiations between Irving and Public Works.

When the department informed Irving it had received the access to information request, Irving objected, saying the documents being requested contained “trade secrets and commercial information.”

The department agreed to censor some parts of the documents, but Irving still objected.

“While (Public Works) has made some redactions, the documents it intends to disclose still contain confidential information,” the Irving legal filing says.

Irving is now asking the federal court to quash the department’s decision to disclose. Furthermore, the company wants the court to declare that the government obtained the documents under the Defence Production Act.

Such a ruling could grant huge power to Irving. Section 30 of the Defence Production Act says no information about a business obtained under the act can be released without the consent of that business.

Irving wants the umbrella agreement and “all similar records or portions of records” exempt from disclosure under the Defence Production Act.

Irving is also seeking to have Ottawa pay its legal costs.

The umbrella agreements with Irving and Seaspan are part of the largest procurement contract in Canada’s history.

Irving’s agreement is worth roughly $25 billion to build a new combat fleet, while Seaspan’s $8-billion contract is to build non-combat vessels.

The contracts were the result of the much-hyped National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy and were announced last October.

Original Article
Source: the chronicle herald
Author: PAUL McLEOD

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