Secret cabinet records lost in Ottawa parking lot for a month

Realistically people are going to be sloppy with confidential documents. No one ever expects their car to be broken into -- even though it happens all the time. My sense is that we can't blame the "senior government official" too much even if it was a breach of procedure. Still, should have been a wake up call to be extra vigilant over government documents. It seems this incident was before the Lisa Raitt and Maxime Bernier incidents so if there is a complaint it's that they didn't learn the lesson of this loss.

OTTAWA—Secret cabinet records and sensitive legal briefs were lost for more than a month in a downtown parking arcade, newly disclosed documents show.

The confidential material from Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's briefing book was stolen from the locked car of a senior government official after a “breach of standard procedure.”

The incident, never made public, occurred soon after 2008 election, when Kenney was appointed to the post.

An immigration official left the secret material unattended in his car on Nov. 28 after parking at a street meter and heading to a meeting.

Someone smashed the rear window and pulled a black nylon bag containing the sensitive briefing binder from the back seat.

The bag contained other department material, including an internal personnel assessment of the official. Also missing were two security passcards.

“There is no doubt that if that book falls into wrong hands, there is possibility of harm to the department,” says one internal email, written soon after the official reported the incident to police.