The CBC has complied with a government order to turn over internal documents to a parliamentary committee following rival Quebecor’s unsuccessful attempts to gain access to the pubcaster’s financial data through repeated access-to-information requests.

On Monday, the organization begrudgingly turned over the documents, some of which were in sealed envelopes, to the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics following a committee order. In doing so, CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Hubert T. Lacroix asked the committee, which intends to read the documents in-camera, not to review them, arguing the Crown corporation’s journalistic freedoms could be compromised.

In a speech to the National Press Club in Ottawa on Monday, Lacroix said the CBC was told by its lawyers that the release could cross constitutional boundaries.

“It is also important to consider the precedent this sets – not only for ourselves as an independent Crown corporation and media company, but potentially for any broadcaster, any business or indeed anyone concerned with the proper separation of powers between our various branches of government,” he said. “This is, for us, about the critically important concept of independence from political influence and our ability to act — as we have always done as a public broadcaster — within a competitive broadcasting ecosystem.”

The move is the latest in the public broadcaster’s dispute with media giant Quebecor, which contends the CBC must fully disclose how it spends public funds allotted to its journalistic, creative and programming activities. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation and Quebecor-owned Sun News have filed hundreds of Access to Information requests for key CBC financial data through a “CBC Money Drain” campaign.