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Both DND and Public Services and Procurement Canada have launched internal investigations into whether federal officials violated privacy laws when they provided an Irving representative with personal information about a Postmedia journalist, along with details about questions the news organization had asked of the government about the Harry DeWolf-class Arctic patrol ships. Both departments have since changed their policies to prevent staff from releasing such information to organizations outside the government.

The first Arctic Offshore Patrol Ship was supposed to be delivered in 2013 but the program has faced delays, and it is now expected to be delivered to the navy this summer. Critics have questioned why Canada is paying around $400 million per ship when Denmark received similar vessels for $70 million each.

The documents DND provided to Postmedia outline how, after receiving an inquiry from a journalist on March 6, one of the department’s officials immediately alerted an Irving representative that “the reporter has been told that there are problems with welds on the Harry DeWolf-class ships”

Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

DND provided Irving details of the alleged problems, saying “the reporter is seeking comment on this.”

The DND official also pointed out to Irving that Postmedia usually had accurate information about defence procurements, but the department wasn’t sure of the source on this issue.

DND did not provide Postmedia with the name of the Irving representative to whom it sent the email to so as not to violate privacy laws. Irving declined a request to comment for this story.