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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