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Special report

Secrets of Government

This report takes you behind closed doors to investigate the conversations happening between government and corporations. It is reader-funded through subscriptions.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with the press in the National Press Gallery Theatre to talk about the parliamentary semester that just ended earlier today, on Wednesday June 20th, 2018. Photo by Alex Tétreault
138 Articles
Jim Ellis

What you need to know about the Alberta energy watchdog’s ethics scandal

Executives at Alberta’s oil and gas watchdog sought to enrich themselves, failed to disclose conflicts of interest and misappropriated public money, costing taxpayers $2.3 million, three provincial investigations found. 
Secrets of Government
By
  • Emma McIntosh
  • News
  • Energy
  • Politics
October 4th 2019
TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 3 - Premier of Ontario Doug Ford. The Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Queen's Park, on October 3, 2018. For a feature by Fatima Syed of the National Observer about the first 100 days of the Ford Government. Carlos Osorio for the Nat

Ford government sues privacy commissioner

The Ford government is trying to stop the release of letters outlining the premier's expectations for each of his ministers. These letters are usually made public.
Secrets of Government
By
  • Fatima Syed
  • News
  • Politics
August 21st 2019

Morneau repeats jobs defence on SNC-Lavalin

Canada's finance minister doubled down on the protecting-jobs defence as Tories demanded that the ethics commissioner testify in Parliament.
Secrets of Government
By
  • Morgan Sharp
  • News
  • Politics
August 15th 2019
Justin Trudeau

Justin Trudeau broke ethics law in SNC-Lavalin affair

Ethics Commissioner says Trudeau inappropriately sought to convince Wilson-Raybould to avoid prosecuting SNC-Lavalin
Secrets of Government
By
  • Emma McIntosh
  • Carl Meyer
  • Fatima Syed
  • Morgan Sharp
  • News
  • Politics
August 14th 2019

A rare look inside state surveillance

'Protest Papers' offer rare insight into the thinking of CSIS agents, as well as concerns among civil society groups that their organizations may be spied on, and even infiltrated, by government security forces.
Secrets of Government
By
  • Timothy E. Wilson
  • News
  • Energy
  • Politics
August 12th 2019

Crown drops case against Norman

Canada's justice minister and independent prosecutors strongly denied political interference Wednesday in the case of Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, in the face of continued accusations by the opposition in the House of Commons.
Secrets of Government
By
  • Carl Meyer
  • News
  • Politics
May 8th 2019

Loblaws lobbyists attended Trudeau fundraiser

Loblaw Companies denies that the grant to make their fridges more energy efficient was awarded because of lobbying or preferential treatment, and the lobbyists in question say they never lobbied the government over the program on behalf of the company.
Secrets of Government
By
  • Carl Meyer
  • News
  • Energy
  • Politics
May 1st 2019
NEB, National Energy Board, pipeline, handout, twitter

EXCLUSIVE: Canadian pipeline regulator deleted message about security threat at Calgary office

Instead of disappearing, the missing message that senior officials tried to delete mushroomed into a series of controversial stories about the regulator, along with an investigation led by the Office of the Information Commissioner, about whether the National Energy Board broke the law in an effort to hide embarrassing secrets.
Secrets of Government
By
  • Mike De Souza
  • News
  • Energy
  • Politics
April 24th 2019

Upgrade of troubled Phoenix could risk yet more payroll snafus for public servants

The Liberal government plans a $22 million upgrade of the Phoenix pay system’s software that the late auditor general Michael Ferguson warned could pose a “significant risk” and trigger a new wave of pay errors for Canada’s public servants.
Secrets of Government
By
  • Kathryn May
  • News
  • Politics
April 3rd 2019
Jody Wilson-Raybould

New audio released of Wilson-Raybould phone call on SNC

Jody Wilson-Raybould, the former attorney general, warned Canada's top civil servant against political interference in a 17-minute phone call last December, less than a month before she was demoted in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet.
Secrets of Government
By
  • Morgan Sharp
  • Mike De Souza
  • News
  • Politics
March 29th 2019

SNC-Lavalin warned of U.S. move, slashing workforce if no plea deal, documents show

The documents, part of a PowerPoint presentation obtained by The Canadian Press, describe something called "Plan B" — what Montreal-based SNC might have to do if it can't convince the government to grant a so-called remediation agreement to avoid criminal proceedings in a fraud and corruption case related to projects in Libya.
Secrets of Government
By
  • Jordan Press
  • Christopher Reynolds
  • News
  • Politics
March 28th 2019

Karl Rove tells Canadian conservatives that Mueller is 'straight arrow'

When Karl Rove sat down with Preston Manning, it was no surprise that he was asked about the news that U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller had turned in his report into Russia's interference in the 2016 election.
Secrets of Government
By
  • Carl Meyer
  • News
  • Politics
March 22nd 2019

Top civil servant Michael Wernick is retiring and Anne McLellan returns

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada's top civil servant, Michael Wernick, is retiring, and he's named a replacement. Wernick had been one of the key figures named by former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould regarding allegations she had been inappropriately pressured to intervene in the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin.
Secrets of Government
By
  • Carl Meyer
  • News
  • Politics
March 18th 2019

SNC-Lavalin announced confidential deal with feds, four days after Trudeau's first throne speech in 2015

Four days after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals opened their first session of Parliament with a throne speech in 2015, the federal government entered into a new confidential deal with SNC-Lavalin. To this day, the contents of that deal remain a secret, but what's clear is that it allows the Quebec construction and engineering giant to continue scoring lucrative federal contracts.
Secrets of Government
By
  • Carl Meyer
  • News
  • Politics
March 11th 2019
Justin Trudeau, National Press Theatre, Ottawa, SNC-Lavalin

Justin Trudeau shares a new version of events

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau doubled down on Thursday, explaining that there was no inappropriate pressure on his former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould, but taking responsibility for an erosion of trust between her and his office over the past few months.
Secrets of Government
By
  • Carl Meyer
  • News
  • Politics
March 7th 2019

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