It's a safe bet: Canada's government is making non-announcements

An emergency worker swabs a plastic mannequin as part of a simulated chemical attack training exercise on Monday at a media event with Public Safety Minister Vic Toews in Ottawa. (Louise Elliott/CBC)

It's the first day of March break, but the Conservative government isn't taking the week off. Prime Minister Stephen Harper cancelled March break for MPs after the prorogation fiasco angered Canadians. "We're working hard," he has proclaimed.

It seems the government is working hard all right -- at generating non-announcements.

Today's gem: the federal government has formalized its Emergency Response Plan. You know, the one that's already in place. The one that worked well at the recent Vancouver Olympics. But never mind.

Reporters are summoned to an event in the parking lot of the Canadian Emergency Management College in Ottawa. Paper about why we're here is scarce and suspense is running high.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews arrives with a printed copy of the plan. It seems the government is here to tick off a box created by the Auditor General's report last November. She wanted to see a plan, and not just any plan. A formalized one.

Now, they've formalized it. In a tent behind Toews, two plastic mannequins are playing the fictional victims of a chemical attack. It has no bearing on the announcment. Still, real live emergency workers swab them down. The minister mingles with them. Another emergency worker stands nearby in a bomb-disposal suit -- you know, the one from the Oscar-winning film, The Hurt Locker. Great photo opportunity. Toews obliges.

Reporters are stumped. What is the news here? They even ask the minister that very question. He explains patiently that the government is formalizing a plan. It's up to the reporters to decide whether that's news. The cameras keep rolling.

Public Safety is serious business and the fact the government claims to have a solid plan that coordinates government departments among themselves and with their provincial counterparts should be on the record. But please, a press release, or even a letter to the Auditor General would suffice.

In the meantime, such stunts suggest the government is either too tired, or too short of ideas to come up with a real announcement.