OTTAWA – Secret RCMP files on Tommy Douglas will remain secret, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Thursday.
The Court dismissed a request by Canadian Press reporter Jim Bronskill to force Library and Archives Canada to release a large part of the file on the former Saskatchewan premier and founding leader of the federal NDP.
The former security service of the RCMP shadowed Douglas for more than three decades, starting in the late 1930s when the socialist firebrand agitated for a federal law to protect unemployed Canadians. The federal agency continued to spy on Douglas until the early 1980s, taking a particular interest in the politician’s involvement in anti-war causes and possible link to communist sympathizers.
Bronskill has been seeking access to the intelligence file compiled on Douglas by the former Security Service of the RCMP. Hundreds of pages have already been released, but a large part of the file remains secret. The government has argued there is “no issue of public importance” to justify releasing the secret information.
Archive for the ‘Breaking News’ Category
Those secret Douglas files? Still secret
Get together and yak
Oh boy. For a journalist it just doesn’t get any better than this. A press release announces that
Media are invited to attend three photo opportunities with the Honourable Pierre Claude Nolin, Senator and His Excellency ENKHBOLD Zandaakhuu, Chairman of the State Great Hural of Mongolia.
Drop everything. Empty the newsroom. Send everyone. I mean if it was the Lesser Hural or even the Moderate Hural we might skip it but…
Oh darn. It was this morning at precisely 10:58. We did skip it.
I wonder if there were yaks.
Shooting down North Korean nukes?
So I wonder if American liberals still think Ballistic Missile Defence is technical and strategic madness, now that Barack Obama is beefing up interceptors along the Pacific Coast because of the crisis with North Korea.
Francis the First
A largely unnoticed feature of the new Pope is that he has adopted a name not used by a previous pontiff. It is a remarkable decision given that he is the first to do so since Lando in 913 AD.
Moreover, as far as I can tell, Lando actually was Lando’s name, just as Pope Formosus (891-896) was “Formosus” before he became Pope, St. Nicholas I (858-867) was “Niccolo” and so on. I’m not sure anyone has ever assumed a previously unused papal name that was not their own.
Surely it’s noteworthy. A possible indication of a determination to make a fresh start in a number of areas (not including, liberal journalists please understand, sexual morality).
P.S. An alert reader notes that John Paul I chose a new name in 1978. But he combined the names of his two immediate predecessors as, I believe, a tribute to each. So in my view that doesn’t count.
