Last updated: Jul 17, 2024
Local MP Champions Parliamentarians 'Need to Know'
As a Canadian Armed Forces Colonel Alex Ruff, now MP for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, had top secret clearance for much of his 25 year military career. It was renewed when he was appointed to the sensitive National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians in May, 2022. Ruff values the insights these clearances have given him and wants other Parliamentarians to learn and then act from the same informed perspective. That’s why he introduced Bill C-377, the “Need to Know” Bill, on February 12, 2024. In Ruff’s view the Bill serves both to increase the seriousness with which Parliament addresses national security and intelligence matters and to enhance any sitting government’s accountability and transparency.
If passed by both the House and Senate, the provisions of our local MP’s Private Member’s Bill will for the first time give Parliamentarians the opportunity to apply for a comprehensive security clearance that would potentially enable them to become more informed about government secrets. But the legislation does not assure either that secret or top secret clearance will be granted to any particular applicant or that, even if the criteria are fully met, the government will choose to permit the Parliamentarian any greater access to secret information
Before the House rose for the summer Bill -377 passed the second reading stage of the legislative process, for further consideration in the fall. We will follow its legislative journey with interest.