Report of the Committee on National Security | Parliamentarians would help states interfere in Canadian politics

(Ottawa) Canadian parliamentarians knowingly contribute to the interference efforts of foreign states; MPs would have done so by providing confidential information to representatives of the Indian government, we learn in a report published Monday.

The explosive document produced by the Committee of Parliamentarians on National Security and Intelligence (CPSNR) does not name any MPs or senators who are in the pay of foreign governments, nor does it specify how many there are.

But the members of this committee, who have access to top-secret documents, draw the conclusion that “certain parliamentarians are, according to the intelligence services, half-willing or half-willing participants in the interference efforts of foreign states in the politics of the country “.

Examples of collaboration cited in the report include:

• Communicate frequently with foreign missions before or during an election campaign to gain support from community groups or businesses that diplomatic missions promise to quietly mobilize in favor of the candidate.
• Knowingly or willfully ignorantly accepting funds or benefits from foreign missions or their agents that have passed through multiple hands or are otherwise disguised to conceal the source.
• Providing foreign diplomatic representatives with inside information about the work or opinions of other parliamentarians, knowing that these representatives will use this information to inappropriately pressure parliamentarians to change their positions.
• Obeying requests or orders from foreign representatives to improperly influence colleagues or parliamentary proceedings in favor of a foreign state.
• Providing information learned in confidence from the government to a known intelligence agent of a foreign state.

These “particularly worrying” cases show the conduct of a few parliamentarians,” it says. Among them, elected representatives “knowingly began helping foreign state actors shortly after their election,” it is reported.

India has been a beneficiary. MPs actually “employed themselves to influence their colleagues on behalf of India” and “proactively provided confidential information to Indian representatives”, it is explained without detailing the stratagems implemented.

The People’s Republic of China, however, remains “clearly the most prolific actor”, having developed “a comprehensive approach to targeting and exploiting almost every aspect of Canada’s democratic processes and institutions in order to advance its interests.” strategic,” according to the Committee.

The Chinese regime also “greatly influenced” the candidacy in 2019, under the Liberal banner, of Han Dong, and “knowingly violated the rule of the Liberal Party of Canada stipulating that eligible voters for the nomination vote must have resided in the constituency.

Canada’s “permissive” security environment allows considerable leeway for malicious states. Canadian parliamentarians are therefore vulnerable to these attempts at interference, as are members of their staff, who are “of great value to foreign actors”.

All these activities “continue to pose a considerable threat to national security and the overall integrity of Canada’s democracy,” we warn in this report of just over a hundred pages which was presented to Justin Trudeau on March 22.

Severe reprimands for Justin Trudeau

The Prime Minister, in fact, is directly attacked by the Committee. Because he turned a deaf ear to recommendations that deputies and senators be clearly informed of the dangers of foreign interference and its manifestations.

While the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has certainly offered “certain MPs” information sessions, a “comprehensive strategy” targeting all parliamentarians has not been implemented, even though the Privy Council Office (BCP) “twice requested authorization from the Prime Minister”.

Committee members come from both houses of Parliament. Its members – three Liberals, two Conservatives, one Bloc, one New Democrat and three independent senators – have a top-secret security clearance, in addition to being bound to secrecy in perpetuity.

“Shattering”

Of all the reports published so far on the phenomenon of foreign interference, this one is undoubtedly “the most detailed”, but above all “the most disturbing”, judges Stephanie Carvin, assistant professor of international affairs at the Carleton University.

“It is upsetting that people who are elected to work in the interests of Canada circulate information that could have the effect of harming Canada’s interests,” adds this former security analyst at CSIS.

But there are also those who are unintentionally duped.

Like this ex-MP who, the report recounts, “maintained a relationship with an undeclared foreign intelligence agent” and allegedly tried to organize a meeting in a foreign state with a high-ranking intelligence representative, and provided this agent with information “received in confidence”.

Be careful, pleads Dominic LeBlanc

The Minister of Public Safety, Dominic LeBlanc, appealed for caution in interpreting the information contained in the report. “Some do not include the necessary reservation to be applied to security information,” he argued.

“There are elements with which the government respectfully disagrees,” he also said at a press briefing, refusing to comment on certain examples raised in the document, deeming this exercise “ill-advised”.

For his part, Conservative MP Michael Chong, who bore the brunt of Beijing’s intimidation tactics, took shots at Justin Trudeau’s government. Because under his leadership, “foreign interference was allowed to run wild in Canada,” denounced the elected official in a written statement.

“The Trudeau government first denied, then attempted to cover up, foreign interference in our elections and our Parliament. Today, the truth is catching up with the government, because successive reports highlight the fact that the government was aware of these threats and did not act,” he thundered.

To support its review, the Committee of Parliamentarians on National Security and Intelligence studied more than 4,000 documents totaling more than 33,000 pages. Its members wanted to remind their fellow deputies and senators “that their duty as parliamentarians is to the Canadian people.”