Green Party Leader Elizabeth May says she’s read the original version of a highly-publicized intelligence watchdog’s report on foreign interference and she doesn’t believe any of her House of Commons colleagues knowingly betrayed their country.
“There is no list of MPs who have shown disloyalty to Canada,” she said. “I am vastly relieved.”
Last week, the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), a cross-party committee of MPs and senators with top security clearances, released a heavily redacted document alleging some parliamentarians have actively helped foreign governments meddle in Canadian politics.
May has a top security clearance allowing her to see classified intelligence and was granted access to the unredacted version of NSICOP Monday night. She said reactions to the report since it was tabled last week have triggered a “totally understandable media firestorm, which in my view is overblown.”
‘There is no list of MPs who have shown disloyalty to Canada,’ Green Party co-leader Elizabeth May said Tuesday after reading the full, unredacted NSICOP report looking into foreign interference.
May described the contents of the report as “not as bad as a John le Carré novel but a bit more worrying than Miss Marple.”
“So I am very glad I read the full report. I am very comfortable sitting with my colleagues,” said the veteran parliamentarian.
“Saying that I’m relieved does not mean that there is nothing to see here folks. There are clearly threats to Canadian democracy from foreign governments.”
The unredacted report, tabled in the House of Commons last week, described what it called “particularly concerning” behaviour by some parliamentarians.
The report said some elected officials “began wittingly assisting foreign state actors soon after their election.” The report said unnamed members of Parliament worked to influence their colleagues on India’s behalf and proactively provided confidential information to Indian officials.
May, who told reporters that she had to tread carefully to avoid disclosing classified information, said the report lists the names of less than a handful of MPs who may have been compromised by foreign governments.
“They have been beneficiaries of foreign governments interfering in nomination contests,” she said.
“Are there currently MPs sitting with us in the chamber who would set out knowingly to sell out Canada for personal benefit? If there are, there’s no evidence of that in the full report.”
She also said she did not read any specific reference to the Senate in the report.
May said the most troubling case in NSICOP’s report involved a former MP who maintained a relationship with a foreign intelligence officer.
The report says that, according to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the MP “sought to arrange a meeting in a foreign state with a senior intelligence official and also proactively provided the intelligence officer with information provided in confidence.”
May said that person, who was not named in the unredacted report, should be fully investigated by police.
The RCMP has said it is probing cases involving foreign interference but would not say whether it’s investigating parliamentarians.
May calls Bloc motion ‘a hot potato in the wrong soup pot’
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who also has a top security clearance, has asked for a briefing on the NSICOP report. Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said Tuesday he’s in the process of getting cleared to view the report.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has not sought clearance to review classified intelligence. He has argued that doing so would prevent him from commenting publicly.
“Elizabeth May took on her responsibilities as party leader, got her security clearance and did the work,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday.
“Mr. Poilievre should do that too. He is choosing ignorance so he can play partisan politics.”
MPs are expected to vote on a Bloc Québécois motion that calls for expanding the mandate of the public inquiry investigating foreign election interference to allow it to investigate the claims in the NSICOP report concerning MPs and senators.
During question period, Conservative MP Jasraj Singh Hallan pushed Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc to name parliamentarians included in a recent foreign interference report, but LeBlanc said he would not do that since the RCMP told him he could face criminal prosecution.
The Liberal government has said it will support the motion and has already reached out to commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue’s staff to discuss next steps.
May said she was going to vote in favour of the motion but, after reading the report, changed her mind.
“I think the Bloc motion is its throwing a hot potato in the wrong soup pot,” she said Tuesday.
“Throw it to Justice Hogue, that’s not good enough. We’re members of Parliament we should be able to — and especially those of us who have the clearance to read the report — should be able to read it, consider it, and start fortifying our own defences against foreign interference.”