I understand the need for governments to be able to keep some information secret until a release date. I don't know who it was, although I know several employees at Environment Canada, and am getting a sense of the high level of frustration there. I think it speaks volumes that employees are risking arrest, dismissal and pensions to try to bring this government to heel on their lack of action on the environment.
Darryl -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Sad and scarey day for Canada: Federal worker arrested in Green Plan leak Federal worker arrested in Green Plan leak Canadian Press May 9, 2007 at 3:28 PM EDT OTTAWA ? An Environment Canada employee was arrested Wednesday for allegedly leaking a draft copy of the Conservative government's climate change legislation. The Mounties say the male employee, who wasn't immediately identified, has since been released from custody and has not been charged. Police said the employee was taken away in handcuffs from his office in the early-morning hours. ?(Officers) went into his place of work, (in a) marked car, in uniform, arrested him and took him down to the RCMP station,? said an RCMP spokeswoman, Sgt. Monique Beauchamp. In a statement, the Mounties say the employee was arrested on an allegation of breach of trust under the Criminal Code for leaking secret draft legislation. The RCMP later clarified the statement, saying the leak involved a ?regulatory framework,? and not actual legislation. The employee's name is not being released by the department, said Environment Canada spokeswoman Lynn Brunette. ?We can't provide the name because this is under investigation,? Ms. Brunette said in an telephone interview. ?There was a leak of information related to the regulatory framework on greenhouse gas emissions.? Police said they received a complaint on April 17 that a secret draft copy of the climate change section of the government's Eco-Action Plan had been released publicly. On April. 17, reporter Dennis Bueckert of The Canadian Press wrote about the leaked climate change plan, quoting from the federal draft, marked Secret and dated April 13. ?An employee who violates the terms of their workplace security clearance, including the release of secret documents, may be subjected to legal consequences, including criminal charges,? said Supt. Stan Burke, the officer in charge of financial integrity and the RCMP's ?A? Division. The complaint about the leak came from the department's deputy minister, Michael Horgan, said Brunette. ?We take information security really seriously and he wanted to make sure that we would investigate the leak,? she said. ?The investigation was given to us based on newspaper articles that were identified by the security department of Environment Canada,? added Sgt. Beauchamp. ?As a result of seeing that information out in the public, knowing that it shouldn't have been out there, they referred the case to the RCMP.? The draft revealed that the Conservatives would undertake to cut greenhouse gas emissions 45 to 65 per cent from 2006 levels by 2050. The plan has been roundly criticized by environmentalists for not going far enough. An earlier plan announced last October by former environment minister Rona Ambrose used an earlier base year when emissions were lower to calculate cuts. That plan would have cut emissions 45 to 65 per cent from 2003 levels. The draft federal plan leaked in April said that Canada's rapid growth in emissions would stop by 2012 and total emissions would be 20 per cent below 2006 levels by 2020. www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070509.wgreenplan0509/BNStory/ National/home -- Darryl McMahon It's your planet. If you won't look after it, who will? The Emperor's New Hydrogen Economy (now in print and eBook) http://www.econogics.com/TENHE/ _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
