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Decentralized Democracy

Member of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians

Alex Ruff

  • Member of Parliament
  • Member of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians
  • Conservative
  • Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound
  • Ontario
  • Voting Attendance: 67%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $91,173.06

  • Government Page
Context: House Hansard - 324 - Jun/4/24
Mr. Alex Ruff
  • Jun/4/24 7:58:50 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Speaker, it is very important. Transparency is not only something that we see with different ombudsmen and different roles, but ultimately it is important. Again, we just need to look at anything that has been tabled in the House recently on some of the reports that have been coming out. We can look at foreign interference and the importance of transparency there to get to the crux of what we need to tackle as Parliament, and what the government needs to focus its efforts on. When it comes to complaints, it needs to be dealt with. My background is that I am ex-military. Unfortunately, I just read in the news today that the Information Commissioner was complaining that she has to take extraordinary action to even get information out of the government when it comes to understanding what the issues are. When we have a complaints commissioner set up, they will need to have that same access to all the material, ultimately, and not be held up during the process.
172 words
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Context: House Hansard - 169 - Mar/20/23
Mr. Alex Ruff (Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, CPC)
  • Mar/20/23 4:42:06 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Speaker, before I get to my specific question, I do want to quote Sean McFate, The New Rules of War. He wrote, “Secrets and democracy are not compatible.... Democracy thrives in the light of information and transparency”. My colleague spoke about the importance of transparency around that and about the needed action in taking the partisan rhetoric out of it. NSICOP's 2019 annual report to the Prime Minister was tabled here in the House in a redacted form, although the findings and recommendations under its 50 pages tied to foreign interference are all unredacted. It made three recommendations to the government and to the Prime Minister to take moving forward. The third one was something the same committee made to the government in its very first report to the Prime Minister on his trip to India, which was around the need to brief opposition MPs on foreign interference: read them in, get them the appropriate clearances and brief them. I want to ask the member why this has not yet happened. It has been five years since it was first recommended to the Prime Minister.
189 words
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