National Defence Minister David McGuinty held a closed-door meeting with military industry leaders on July 28, and his department is refusing to disclose the names of those he met with or share details about what was discussed.
A spokesperson from the Department of National Defence (DND) told The Maple via email that the meeting was held under “Chatham House Rules,” a protocol that politicians commonly invoke to hide details about closed-door meetings.
According to Chatham House, the British think tank that the policy is named after, the rules permit the publication of ideas brought up during a meeting, but not the identities of the speakers or organizations who discussed them.
“As a result, a list of attendees is not available for distribution,” DND spokesperson Andrée-Anne Poulin told The Maple regarding McGuinty’s meeting, which was held in Toronto last month.
Elected officials are not required to disclose meetings with private industry representatives, but any of those who engage in lobbying are themselves legally obliged to report their activities.
A DND news release said McGuinty jointly held the meeting with the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) and Export Development Canada (EDC) to “advance Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy and strengthen Canada’s defence industrial base.”
The same day, McGuinty hosted a separate roundtable meeting with the leaders of nine pension funds, according to DND.
The department’s official press release did not name the pension funds involved in the meeting, but in an email, a spokesperson told The Maple they included:
- Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ)
- Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments)
- Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS)
- Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP)
- Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP)
- Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo)
- Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO)
- British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI)
- OPtrust (OPSEU Pension Trust)
“Participants had a productive discussion on opportunities to strengthen collaboration between government and Canada’s pension funds in support of Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy,” DND’s official press release said.
McGuinty’s secretive meetings come as the Liberal government continues to massively hike military spending to an estimated $150 billion per year by 2035 at the behest of U.S. President Donald Trump.
This week, McGuinty told reporters that his government is continuing its long-delayed review of plans to buy a full fleet of 88 American-made F-35 fighter jets, even as Trump continues to threaten Canada with annexation.
“I can tell you that the cooperation between Canada and the United States on security, intelligence and defence remains strong,” McGuinty said Monday.
In July, McGuinty similarly said at the Farnborough International Airshow in the United Kingdom that there’s “really little daylight” between Canada and the United States on military and intelligence affairs.
DND, meanwhile, has continued to fail on its transparency obligations under the Access to Information Act.
Defence industry groups have also blocked critical journalists from participating in important events. In May, the CANSEC arms fair barred The Maple and other independent journalists from attending.
