"Shhh! Let's have an international trade meeting and not tell anyone."

[pa28]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/06/20/f-vp-petrovich-tpp-secrecy.html

The ambitious, now 11-nation trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership has been raising the ire of U.S. senators as well as reporters, lawyers and labour groups all over the world for the exceptionally high level of secrecy surrounding its negotiation.

But is it possible Canada is raising that bar even higher still?

A case in point was the three-day negotiating session of the TPP that was held in Vancouver recently. And which the federal government had no intention of even mentioning until it was leaked, after the fact, by news media in Peru.

Looks like the Canadian government takes the complete blackout of information on the TPP just as seriously as their American counterparts. The Vancouver session did not appear on the USTR's schedule page so now it appears we had an "unofficial" 18th round of negotiations that only came to light after a leaker decided to make it known.

[PDJane]

1. Secrecy serves Harper well.

He wouldn't have been elected if his religious, racial, and controlling tendencies weren't well hidden. He's quite the fellow, and if it hadn't been for his clean up crew, Canadians would have rejected him with an even larger margin.

[pa28]

2. Watching Canada slide toward the US right wing political model has been disturbing enough.

Maybe I just know or have met the wrong Canadians but I'm stunned at what Harper has been able to get away with.

As for our situation I think the real story here is this: it appears the US participated in the meeting without providing disclosure. The contents of the meetings are "classified" of course but at least they have been notifying the public of times and places of negotiating sessions.