More Harper Government Incompetence

Why am I not surprised by this (emphasis added):

Lost document more sensitive than Baird indicated, expert says

A government document found on an Ottawa street last summer might be more sensitive than the environment minister John Baird initially led the public to believe, the CBC has learned.

Last August, a 131-page document in an envelope marked "Protected B" was found by a passerby on a street in Ottawa's Kanata area and given to the CBC.

The papers provide a risk assessment of an Environment Canada enforcement database that tracks polluters and law-breakers and the steps taken to enforce environmental and wildlife-protection legislation.

At the time, Baird brushed off the lost document saying, "it's neither classified nor secret, and it'll be something that could be available under access to information."

But a CBC request under the Access to Information Act for a copy of the same document found the content heavily redacted.

Ninety-seven of 131 pages had parts deleted that related to the security of the environment database, including its failings and vulnerabilities.

In some sections, words or sentences were removed. In others, entire paragraphs — even pages — were blacked out.

The redacted portions described in detail exactly how the database could be attacked by industrial hackers and organized crime, as well as environmental activists.

If the system were shut down or deleted or corrupted by a hacker, officers might be prevented from prosecuting their cases, seriously interfering with enforcement of the law, the document says.

(...) "Obviously, the minister was downplaying the significance of that document," said Christian Rouillard, an expert on public administration and an associate professor at the University of Ottawa's school of political studies.

"This document is much more valuable or has much greater significance than was suggested by Mr. Baird a few months ago."

Rouillard acknowledged the government document is not top secret, but said it is still sensitive classified information that should be handled with special care and should not be available to the public.

The very nature of the document, as a risk assessment of an operational system within a department, makes the document sensitive, he said.

Officials at Environment Canada have so far declined to comment. But last August, spokeswoman Sujata Raisinghani said the department would look into the incident.

"We take document security seriously," she said, without providing details about how the document came to be on a road.

Although the enforcement database has attracted little public attention, its existence is not a secret.

The national enforcement management information system and intelligence system database, or NEMESIS for short, was unveiled in 1999 to be used by officers to crack down on environmental law-breakers.

A report to Parliament describes the database as a system that provides statistical information and detailed reports on enforcement efforts, and states that the data is shared among enforcement agencies.

Looks like "misplacing" sensitive documents is a force of habit among Harper and his Harpies ... along with the denial that "misplaced" documents are "not sensitive/important".

What does this repeated pattern of significant gaffes, inevitably followed by blatant lies to excuse/diminish their impact, reminds me of?

Ah, yes ...


Once again: you voted for it, you own it, fellow Canadians ...


(Cross-posted at NetRoots)