Pease in a pod (I)

The first of what will be an occasional, but very lengthy, series.

Murray Brewster, Canadian Press, April 24, 2007:

A key paper trail that once tracked the handling of Taliban prisoners has been eliminated in the defence minister's office, raising questions about human-rights accountability.

Unlike his Liberal predecessor, who received written reports every time a detainee was captured, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor is given only oral briefings.

The practice of written daily briefings, born partly out of the Somalia prisoner-abuse scandal in the early 1990s, has been discontinued, a spokeswoman for the minister confirmed.

“The minister is briefed verbally on a daily basis regarding operations,” Isabelle Bouchard said in an e-mail.

Alexander Panetta, Canadian Press, November 8, 2007:

Conservative government ministers did not read briefing material prepared by the Justice Department on the Airbus affair and cash payments to Brian Mulroney, documents suggest.

…

Notes drafted for the Conservatives by bureaucrats point out that briefing material on Airbus and Mulroney was prepared in 2006 and 2007, but that it never made it to the desk of the current or former justice minister.

The statement that there was no briefing is written several times, and phrased in different ways, in notes produced by the department for Justice Minister Rob Nicholson.

CBC, August 17, 2009:

The cabinet minister responsible for Newfoundland and Labrador's $2.6-billion health ministry didn't receive any written information about issues in his department when he was appointed to the position last month, according to documents obtained by CBC News.

The CBC used access to information laws to ask for any briefing documents or notes prepared for Paul Oram after he stepped into the health minister's job in early July.

A written response from the department of health said, "There are no documents."