This morning, CBC Radio News reported that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will meet with business leaders in New York. The Prime Minister’s Office won’t reveal the identities of these business leaders.

This type of secrecy is what we’ve come to expect from the Harper government.

Last week, the anticorruption organization Global Integrity released its 2008 report, and it showed that Canada had fallen from a “strong” to “moderate” level after a detailed examination of 300 indicators.

“Despite strong performance in many areas, Canada continues to struggle with controlling the influence of money in the political process,” the report states. “There are no limits on loans to political parties or candidates, and in nomination and political party leadership races, loopholes allow for secrecy when it comes to financial contributions to candidates.”

Global Integrity  also pointed out that there are no post-government employment restrictions on MPs and their staffs, which encourages a “revolving door effect between lawmakers and lobbyists”.

The personal assets of senators remain inaccessible to the public, and Canadian judges are not required to disclose personal assets or gifts.

Duff Conacher, coordinator of Ottawa-based Democracy Watch, was the lead researcher for the 2008 section on Canada.

In December, I suggested that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. might be interested in buying Canwest Global Communications Corp., which, according to the Globe and Mail, could seek protection from its creditors by the end of this month.

Murdoch’s company could only buy Canwest if there were major regulatory changes regarding foreign ownership of Canadian newspaper and broadcasting assets.

I wrote: “Don’t be surprised if Prime Minister Harper pays a quiet visit to Murdoch the next time Harper happens to pass through New York City, where Murdoch spends most of his time.”

For this speculation, which was based only on a reporter's hunch, I was pilloried by a Canwest journalist by the name of David George-Cosh.

Because Canada’s prime minister isn’t required to disclose the identity of every businessperson he meets in the course of his daily affairs, we’ll probably never know if Murdoch is among those business leaders Harper is meeting in New York today.

Harper did appear on the Murdoch-owned Fox News today, which suggests the two were quite possibly in the same building at the same time. Harper is also meeting with staff at the Wall Street Journal, which is owned by Murdoch.

Perhaps a pesky Opposition MP will raise this issue in question period. It's a pretty straightforward question: "Did Stephen Harper meet with Rupert Murdoch during his recent trip to New York City?"

If the answer is "yes", it will be fun watching Conservative MPs get up in  Harper's place in Parliament and  try to change the subject.