Government Accountability

Householder Spring 2025: Liberals and Conservatives Rigging the System for Big Corporations

HANSARD: The Conservative Leader consistently says one thing and does another

HANSARD: RCMP Allegations Concerning Foreign Interference from the Government of India Emergency Debate

National Post NEWS: 'Not informed': Mélanie Joly tells inquiry she was kept in the dark for years on foreign interference

Earlier this week, current national security and intelligence adviser Nathalie Drouin said she had seen no evidence there are “traitors” in Parliament and that some of the conclusions in the NSICOP report made her “very uncomfortable.”

Mendicino said he believes there is a need to “clear the air” about NSICOP’s findings.

“I am very worried that the entire conversation around foreign interference and parliamentarians is being transformed into a kangaroo court with very little regard for the process of understanding how we assess intelligence,” he told the inquiry.

“I think it is extremely important that we heed the opinion and the evidence that has been given to this commission, from Ms. Drouin, from CSIS, around the fact that… this NSICOP report has gone further than where they are at in the assessment of the intelligence,” he added.

CBC NEWS: Joly says she wasn't briefed on foreign interference for over a year

Under questioning by Sujit Choudhry, lawyer for NDP MP Jenny Kwan, Mendicino agreed that officials need to clear the air on foreign interference and parliamentarians.

"I am very worried that the entire conversation around foreign interference and parliamentarians is being transformed into a kangaroo court, with very little regard for the process of understanding how we assess intelligence, especially given its rapidly evolving nature," he said.

CBC NEWS: Bill Blair's former chief of staff rejects claims of political motive behind 54-day warrant delay

 

Sujit Choudhry, lawyer for NDP MP Jenny Kwan, asked why Astravas had asked for a briefing on Vanweenan lists in connection with that warrant when she would have seen similar lists attached to previous warrant applications handled by Blair's office. 

"Did you recognize any of the names on that list?" asked Choudhry. "As you can appreciate, I can't discuss the contents of a Vanweenan list or a specific warrant in this forum and I have spoken with the commission about this," responded Astravas.

Despite Astravas being peppered with questions about the delay in arranging for Blair to be briefed and to sign the warrant, by the end of her testimony, it still wasn't clear why it took so long. Two other warrants that were applied for during that time period were signed with delays of only a few days and Blair had a number of secure conversations with the director of CSIS during that period.

Astravas revealed that Blair was aware of the foreign interference investigation that triggered the warrant before CSIS submitted the application.

CBC NEWS: The scandal that shocked Parliament in the spring is slowly fading from memory

Separately, NDP MP Jenny Kwan had asked Speaker of the House of Commons Greg Fergus to find that the suspicions raised by NSICOP's report constituted a question of privilege for all MPs. But on Monday, Fergus reported back that he could not find a prima facie breach of privilege.

Had Fergus ruled in Kwan's favour, she could have had the matter referred to a House committee for further study. But a House committee could still choose to pursue the matter of its own volition. If they were so motivated, MPs could try to design a process for investigating the allegations contained in the NSICOP report and deciding whether further action needs to be taken (up to and including expulsion).

But there's also no guarantee the House won't be dissolved for an election in the next few weeks or months. And political attention has clearly moved on — the NSICOP report has not been the subject of a single question in question period since MPs returned to Ottawa earlier this month.

Four months ago, Parliament suffered a paroxysm of suspicion and fear — perhaps for good reasons, given the allegations levelled against unnamed parliamentarians. But now, the intrigue seems like it might just fade away without any obvious resolution.

CBC: House won't hold priority debate on MPs implicated in foreign interference report: Speaker

Kwan argued that as long as the names of those politicians remain secret, Canadians will lose trust in their elected officials, undermining MPs' ability to do their jobs. "The report did not provide any names and as such all 338 members of this House, including those who have since left this chamber, are under a cloud of suspicion," Kwan said in June.

But Fergus ruled Monday that Kwan had failed to demonstrate "concretely" that keeping the names secret has impeded MPs' ability to carry out their duties.

"While I understand that findings presented in the NSICOP report are serious and appear to create suspicions about certain members, that in itself is not a basis to establish this question of privilege merits priority of consideration over all other House business," he said.

In order to be considered a "prima facie" violation of privilege, an issue must also be raised in a timely manner. In his ruling, Fergus pointed out that Kwan raised the issue two weeks after the NSICOP report was released.

Globe NEWS: Foreign-interference inquiry resumes with focus on targeting of MPs, how system can be fixed

Global NEWS: RCMP commissioner urges ‘caution’ on naming alleged foreign state colluders

NDP MP Jenny Kwan is the latest federal politician to call for their identities to be revealed.

“I think we’ve got to be cautious about a right to know and the need to know,” said Duheme, who has read the unredacted version of the NSICOP report.

But Kwan says keeping the names secret damages the reputation of all members of the House of Commons, and the trust Canadians have in their elected officials.
The MP for Vancouver East raised a question of privilege and requested the matter be referred to a parliamentary committee to “explore options” on how to disclose who the parliamentarians are without “compromising national security.”

Kwan received a briefing from Canada’s spy agency that she was targeted by China over her criticism of Beijing’s human rights abuses.

The RCMP commissioner warned that investigations could be compromised if names are revealed.

“If we start disclosing a lot of secret and top-secret information, there's tradecraft involved in that,” Duheme said.

“We have to be mindful about the impact we’ll have on the international partners who are supplying some of that information.”