Liberal and Bloc Québécois MPs have voted down a motion that would have compelled former Canada Soccer coaches and senior staff to testify at a parliamentary committee probe of the drone cheating controversy at the Paris Olympics.
NDP MP Niki Ashton put forward a motion in August at the House of Commons heritage committee to study what role officials from Canada Soccer played in the spying scheme. She wanted to hear from suspended head coach Bev Priestman, former head coach John Herdman, analyst Joseph Lombardi, assistant coach Jasmine Mander and Canada Soccer’s CEO Kevin Blue.
Mr. Lombardi was arrested by French police on July 22, four days before the start of the Olympics, when he was caught operating a drone in a no-fly zone above a soccer stadium – allegedly filming the New Zealand women’s team as they practised ahead of their game against Canada.
Ms. Mander and Ms. Priestman were also sent home from Paris, while the Canadians were docked six points and fined more than $310,000. All three are serving one-year FIFA suspensions in the wake of New Zealand’s complaint with the International Olympic Committee’s integrity unit.
On Monday, five Liberal MPs and the lone Bloc Québécois MP voted down Ms. Ashton’s motion, while four Conservative MPs and Ms. Ashton voted in favour.
Ms. Ashton said Canadians deserved the chance to hear from those coaches and their bosses at Canada Soccer, at a time when the country was deeply embarrassed on the world stage. Without their testimony, it may be difficult to get clear answers on how deep the spying problems goes within the national soccer program.
“They’re willing to cover up this scandal,” Ms. Ashton told The Globe and Mail. “They don’t want Canadians to have an opportunity to hear publicly from Canada Soccer officials that engaged in spying, from officials that have knowledge of this. They’re not interested in accountability for Canada Soccer and they’re not interested to getting to the bottom of this mess and making sure it doesn’t happen again.”
A spokesperson for the Liberal Party did not respond to requests for comment sent early Monday evening. Bloc Québécois MP Martin Champoux, who also voted against the motion, told The Globe he wanted to wait for the results of Canada Soccer’s own investigation before launching a separate probe.
With Canada set to co-host the FIFA 2026 World Cup with the United States and Mexico, and the risk that the sport’s governing body might impose more sanctions because of the drone incident, it’s critical Canadians know who else at Canada Soccer was aware of the spying scheme, Ms. Ashton said.
“The bottom line here is this: This isn’t just about Canada Soccer. This is about Canada’s reputation in soccer. Canada’s reputation in sport. Our reputation has taken a hit on the world stage, and we need to do some real heavy lifting to get that reputation back on track,” she said.
Canada Soccer told FIFA the drone program began under Mr. Herdman, who was coach of the women’s and men’s national teams between 2011 and 2023, before leaving to coach Toronto FC. The Englishman told reporters that to his knowledge, no Canadian teams under his watch spied at soccer’s biggest tournaments, namely the Olympics or World Cup.
After the drone controversy, Canada Soccer announced plans for an independent probe to “address the circumstances of the current matter, and more broadly, will seek to understand the historical culture of competitive ethics within all of our programs.” It promised to share the outcome of that review publicly and to take “corrective actions, if necessary.”