(OTTAWA) Bill Blair blames CSIS director David Vigneault for not receiving public safety minister’s warning note about alleged targeting of Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family by diplomat Chinese.
According to Mr. Blair, who at the time was Minister of Public Safety, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) determined that “this was not information that the minister needed to know “.
Mr Blair made the comments Thursday during a meeting of the Procedure and House Affairs Committee, which is tasked with investigating allegations that MPs have been the target of foreign interference.
The former Minister of Public Security testified a few days after the publication of the preliminary report by David Johnston. The special rapporteur concluded that there were serious problems with the government’s handling of confidential information.
The former Governor General’s report also concluded that CSIS was aware of indications that Chinese officials were planning to take action against Canadian MPs. But the report does not find negligence at the highest political levels of government.
Mr. Johnston also concludes that intelligence on Chinese officials seeking information on Conservative MP Michael Chong only reached the Prime Minister, the current Public Security Minister or Mr. Chong himself after leaked and reported by the media.
The note fell into a “black hole”
Invited to the same parliamentary committee on Thursday, national security adviser to the prime minister, Jody Thomas, said that in 2021, the memo was sent to the deputy ministers of public safety, global affairs and National Defence. But she admitted the note fell into a “black hole” and was not shared with the appropriate people in Ottawa.
PHOTO SPENCER COLBY, THE CANADIAN PRESS
National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, Jody Thomas
Mme Thomas was the Deputy Minister of National Defense at the time, so she was one of three people to receive the memo. But she claimed she hadn’t seen it because she was on leave when it was sent, and the note would have been destroyed after a while, for security reasons.
This memo did not specifically mention Mr. Chong. But according to the Johnston report, an additional memo, sent to Minister Blair and his deputy, reported intelligence that the People’s Republic of China intended to target MP Chong and another unidentified MP.
At the time, CSIS intended to offer Mr. Chong and another, unnamed MP, a briefing, according to Mr. Johnston’s report. Deputy Chong said he was granted this briefing, but it offered no details of a threat to his family.
Mme Thomas said the memo on MP Chong was sent to the Privy Council Office in July 2021 and was submitted the following month to his predecessor, David Morrison, now deputy foreign minister.
But the national security and intelligence adviser would not explain why the memo was not shared at that time with the prime minister, MK Chong or other relevant people. “I’m not going to report on what happened with my predecessor,” she told the committee.
In his preliminary report, Mr. Johnston confirms that CSIS also passed information about Mr. Chong’s targeting to the Minister of Public Security and his chief of staff, via a top-secret email platform, but that they had never received them.
Officials within the federal public service explained to the special rapporteur that the minister and his chief of staff did not have access to the correct messaging system.
Mme Thomas said Thursday that security officials should have made sure the information got to the right place. She maintains that if Minister Blair has not seen his information, it is certainly not because of a lack of access to the messaging system, since in any case, “Minister Blair would have received a reading list “, she said.
“Top secret terminals”
Bill Blair told the same committee on Thursday afternoon that he, too, had been informed for the first time in the media of the threats against Mr. Chong. He assured that if he had been informed of threats against an MP, he would have acted.
Mr Blair explained to committee members that there were no email accounts where top-secret information was shared, but “top-secret terminals” – except that he did not have access to any of these terminals in its offices.
” Whether [le SCRS] were to determine that there is no need to share information with us – and I have no knowledge of this having happened – I would not have the ability to act on it,” he said. . He argued that questions about why the information was not shared with him should be directed to CSIS Director David Vigneault.
He explained that when CSIS wanted to share information with him, he was taken to a secure facility and briefed with printed materials. “I’m not saying that CSIS deliberately withheld information. They made a decision […] on the credibility and seriousness of the information collected. »
Jody Thomas also told MPs that steps have been taken to ensure a better flow of information since she took over as national security adviser in 2022. She added that even more is being done in Ottawa to s Ensure officials know how to use this information.
The Liberal government recently issued a directive that any threat against an MP, their family or their staff must be brought to the attention of the highest political levels, even if CSIS does not deem the threat serious or legitimate.
The government also expelled Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei in May, accusing him of being involved in a plot to intimidate MK Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong. Chong had earlier successfully sponsored a motion in the House calling Beijing’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China genocide.
Mme Thomas told MPs on Thursday that proxies for foreign diplomats in Canada continue to “work against the interests of the diaspora.” She was reluctant to put a figure on how many of those people were involved or talk more about what their activities involved, citing national security concerns.