(Ottawa) Canadian parliamentarians would collaborate in the interference efforts of foreign states, among other things by providing confidential information to representatives of the Indian government, we learn in a report published Monday.
“Some parliamentarians are, according to the intelligence services, half-willing or half-willing participants in the efforts of foreign states to interfere in the country’s politics,” reads an explosive document produced by the Committee of Parliamentarians on Security national security and intelligence (CPSNR).
Examples cited in the document 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” examples characterize the conduct of “some parliamentarians”.
And while “some actions may be illegal,” they “probably will not result in charges,” “since Canada has still not resolved the long-standing problem regarding the protection of classified information and methods in legal proceedings,” the report emphasizes.