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OTTAWA — Senators studying the government’s transparency legislation were set to hear secret testimony from a senior judge over the contentious issue of disclosing expense claims of federally-appointed judges — but the judge cancelled at the last minute.

Tax Court Chief Justice Eugene Rossiter had been scheduled as recently as Wednesday evening to appear at Thursday morning’s meeting of the legal and constitutional affairs committee. But as the meeting opened shortly after 10:30 a.m., committee chair Serge Joyal read a message from Rossiter saying he would not be appearing.

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“My apologies to all for this short notice, and I regret any inconvenience to the senators,” said the message, which also promised to explain the reasoning at greater length in a letter to committee members.

Sophie Matte, executive legal counsel at the Tax Court, provided a short statement to the National Post on Thursday. “The chief justice elected not to appear before the committee due to his duty of reserve and will not be providing any comment,” it said. The duty of reserve refers to a judge’s need to maintain impartiality by not expressing opinions.