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Companies interested in providing a new icebreaker to the coast guard have been threatened by the Liberal government which is increasingly using gag orders to prevent details about proposed federal procurements from being reported on.

The firms were told “Canada will take appropriate action” if they violate the ban on discussing the project with the news media.

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The small icebreaker is for use on the Great Lakes, and in the larger scheme of proposed federal purchases seems to be inconsequential.

But the media ban and threat in March to punish companies that violate that gag order significantly ups the ante in ongoing attempts by Public Services and Procurement Canada to control what the media finds out about the billions of tax dollars being spent on new ships and military equipment.

Postmedia has determined the department has put in place gag orders on at least three other military equipment projects worth tens of billions of dollars.