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A journalist’s question about a potential problem with the Royal Canadian Navy’s new Arctic patrol ships prompted federal bureaucrats to generate more than 200 pages of documents as they warned Irving Shipbuilding about the news outlet’s interest in the multibillion dollar program.

But Public Services and Procurement Canada has ignored its requirement under the Access to Information Act to release those records within the stipulated 30 days, and is now in violation of the law.

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The department told Postmedia it doesn’t know when it will release the documents or how much of their contents will be censored.

The access law allows any individual to file a request for federal records in exchange for a $5 fee. The Liberal government campaigned on making government open and transparent.

This request, which the department received in early April, was sent after Procurement Canada acknowledged it had alerted Irving that a Postmedia journalist had asked the department questions about potential issues with welds on the new Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships being built by the firm. Procurement Canada bureaucrats also provided the journalist’s private information to Irving officials. They never did answer the questions.