Same old story, Chapter 37

For all the indications that the Cons have repeatedly ignored important advice since they took office, CanWest reminds us that the Lib government may not have been any better when it came to ignoring and suppressing information:

Canada should launch a constellation of low-cost miniature satellites to conduct surveillance on the Arctic and other parts of the country, a group of Defence Department advisers has concluded.

The micro satellites, which cost about $10 million each compared to hundreds of millions of dollars for a full-size satellite, could be key in helping support Canada's claim of ownership over its northern territories, according to the report obtained by the Ottawa Citizen...

Defence officials were not keen, however, for the science advisory report to be made public. The May 2005 study was withheld by the Defence Department's Access to Information branch for almost a year and was only released after information commissioner John Reid conducted an investigation into the issue. Specific parts of the report have been censored for security reasons.

And lest there be any doubt who was in charge of the Defence Department at the time it chose to try to bury the report, that would be Bill Graham - who not coincidentally has been claiming that Arctic defence shouldn't be a priority:

Interim Liberal leader Bill Graham has criticized the Conservative government's plans to beef up Canada's military presence in North, saying there aren't any immediate threats to sovereignty...

"The challenges in the North are not really military at this time," said Graham, who is heading the Liberal party until a December leadership convention to chose Paul Martin's successor.

Of course, more thorough information about the Arctic would work wonders to ensure that Canada knows exactly what challenges it faces in the North. But apparently Graham and his department were perfectly happy with the view that what Canadians don't know about what they don't know won't hurt them.

Hopefully the public release of the report will both lead to some action toward a microsatellite system, and offer officials an example of how pointless it is to suppress information which isn't properly withheld. But it seems like both of Canada's largest political parties have an awful lot to learn on the latter front.