Cabinet Disclosure Law

Whereas, the citizen nations of the Region of Canada are entitled to full disclosure of the activities of its elected Regional Government;

And Whereas, legislation governing such disclosure is necessary in order to further protect the said entitlement of disclosure;

And Whereas, it is acknowledged that in certain exceptional cases, details of Cabinet discussions may be exempt from immediate disclosure due to an overriding national interest;

Therefore, the Government of the Region of Canada hereby proclaims the following into law:

1(1) Subject to the exceptions contained herein, the Minister of the Region, or such other person as the Minister of the Region may appoint, shall, on a weekly basis, provide a Cabinet Report to the citizens of Canada that shall contain the following:

a) Results of all votes on every issue undertaken by Cabinet since the previous Cabinet Report, including a breakdown disclosing how each Cabinet Member voted on each said issue; and
B) An outline of all discussions undertaken by Cabinet, and specifying the points made by each individual Cabinet Minister.

1(2) A draft of the Cabinet Report shall be posted in the Cabinet Forum 48 hours before it is to be made public.

2(1). Where there is an overriding national interest, any item to be disclosed under section 1b) of this Cabinet Disclosure Law may be deemed as “confidential” by Canada’s Prime Minister, and such confidential discussions shall be exempted from disclosure requirements. In designating such items as confidential, the Prime Minister shall state the specific national interest that is to be protected by such exemption.

2(2). The Prime Minister’s confidentiality veto may be overridden by the unanimous consent of the other sitting Cabinet Ministers.

2(3). Where the Prime Minister’s confidentiality veto is not overridden, the veto on disclosure shall lapse 28 days later, unless extended by the unanimous consent of all sitting Cabinet Ministers.

2(4) Where disclosure has been exempted by virtue of sections 2(1) and 2(2), the Cabinet Report shall state that certain items have been exempted to disclosure, shall list the results of any vote that took place by virtue of section 2(2), and shall list the overriding national interest that is being protected by the exemption. The Cabinet Report will also list the date upon which the exemption is scheduled to lapse, subject to section 2(3).

3(1). Where a Cabinet Minister feels that his or her position on a matter has been misrepresented in the Cabinet Report, the aggrieved Cabinet Minister shall note his or her objection in the Cabinet Forum, and provide alternative wording. Where the Minister of Regional Affairs does not consent to the alternative wording proposed by the aggrieved Cabinet Minister, the Prime Minister shall choose the precise wording that he or she finds acceptable, and shall direct the Minister of Regional Affairs to post that version in the publicly disclosed Cabinet Report.

3(2)Cabinet shall then vote on the acceptability of the Prime Minister's chosen wording. Where Cabinet votes against the Prime Minister's chosen wording, the Cabinet Report shall be posted with two alternative versions of the aggrieved Cabinet Minister's position. The first version of events shall be those of the aggrieved Cabinet Member, and shall be specifically stated as being the Aggrieved Cabinet Minister's version. The second version of events shall be the Minister of Regional Affairs' version, and shall be specifically stated as being the Minister of Regional Affairs version

3(3) In a case where a Cabinet Report has dual versions of the same event posted, the parties may substantiate their version of the events in public by quoting from relevant extracts of Cabinet discussions.

4(1). Nothing in this law shall limit the right of any sitting Cabinet Minister to reveal his or her own personal position on any issue in a public forum. However, all Cabinet Ministers shall be prohibited from disclosing the positions of any other Cabinet Minister on an exempted issue, as revealed in exempted Cabinet discussions.

4(2) Where a Cabinet Minister has breached the non-disclosure obligations listed in section 4(1), another Cabinet Minister may immediately remove the offending posting from the public boards and remove them to a hidden cabinet thread for further discussion. Where a Cabinet Minister breaches section 4(1) twice in one term, that Cabinet Members posting privileges on the public areas of the Canada forums may be suspended for up to a week, at the discretion of the entire Cabinet. Nothing will affect the ability of the suspended Minister from participating in non-public cabinet areas of the forum. Further violations of section 4(1) shall be subject to suspensions of up to two weeks.

4(3) Where a Cabinet Minister is suspended or has a post removed or is warned by virtue of sections 4(2), he or she may appeal such suspension, removal of a post, or warning through the use of Canada’s available dispute resolution mechanism(s). Where such an appeal is pending, all suspensions (if any) shall be in abeyance pending the outcome of the appeal