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While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claims to run an open and transparent government, the Liberal caucus he leads has no qualms about using its parliamentary majority to be neither open nor transparent.

In a case similar to what happened in Lavscam, the Liberal majority on the Commons foreign affairs committee, on Tuesday defeated an opposition motion to hold public hearings on claims by two former ambassadors to China that they were pressured to clear any public comments they made about China with the Prime Minister’s Office.

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The vote went strictly on party lines, the five Liberal members outvoting the four opposition MPs.

That’s the same thing that happened when the Liberal majority on the justice committee shut down hearings into Lavscam, when the opposition wanted to call more witnesses.

In the latest case, former ambassadors to China David Mulroney and Guy Saint-Jacques told the Globe and Mail they were contacted by a senior government official at Global Affairs.