(Ottawa) After CSIS, it’s the RCMP’s turn to open an investigation into information on foreign interference leaked in the media.
The investigation launched by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) concerns “offences committed under the Information Protection Act related to recent media articles,” Corporal Kim Chamberland said Monday.
It is not “centered on an agency [de renseignement] particular, and since the RCMP is investigating these incidents, no additional comments will be made at this time, ”added the spokesperson for the federal police in a press release.
Last week, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), David Vigneault, told members of a House of Commons committee that is examining the issue of Chinese interference in the elections from 2019 and 2021 that CSIS and partner agencies were investigating.
Provisions of the Information Protection Act make it an offense to communicate secret information. Employees of agencies like CSIS are subject to it; and in recent months, CSIS documents have been cited in reports by the Globe and Mail and of Global News.
Resumption of committee work
The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs is resuming its work this week on the issue of Chinese interference in the Canadian democratic process.
The Conservatives and the Bloc are keen to hear the testimony of Katie Telford, Justin Trudeau’s chief of staff. They will come back to the charge on this subject during a meeting which is to take place on Tuesday morning.
On Thursday, it will be Minister Dominic LeBlanc’s turn to appear before the same committee.
The same committee last week passed, by a majority, a non-binding motion to demand a public inquiry into Beijing’s interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. No one is questioning the Liberal Party’s victories in both elections, but the opposition wants more clarity.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has so far shown little appetite for the idea.