Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talks to reporters at the Ukraine peace summit media centre at the Burgenstock Resort in Obburgen, Switzerland on June 16.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Stephen Maher is a political journalist and the author of several books, including The Prince: The Turbulent Reign of Justin Trudeau.
One of the bitter ironies in the dismal, long-running foreign interference saga is that Justin Trudeau – whose lack of leadership on this issue has been so disturbing – did one smart thing six years ago that is helping us get to the bottom of the mess.
In 2018, Ralph Goodale, then Mr. Trudeau’s public safety minister, established the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), which earlier this month released a report alleging MPs and senators have been compromised by China and India.
This committee has been helping improve the culture around national security in the political class, making us more like other, more grown-up countries. If there were ever any doubts about its value, they should be dispelled by the foreign interference report.
The report confirmed that a number of parliamentarians have been doing the bidding of China and India, violating their oaths of office, which require them to be loyal to Canada. The Chinese and Indians are using proxies to deliver voters to their favoured candidates in nomination battles, and do all kinds of nasty things to try to silence their critics.
Ironically, the Conservatives – who are making hay from the report – opposed the creation of the committee that produced it, arguing that it would not be independent because it is a committee of parliamentarians, but not a full parliamentary committee, and its reports are redacted at the direction of the Prime Minister’s officials.
They were wrong. It is providing crucial democratic oversight. We ought to have had one sooner, as all of our allies have long had, because representatives of the people must be informed about what the government is doing – or not doing – to keep Canadians safe.
For decades, Canadians were complacent and naive about our national security, and our spy agencies were passive compared to those of our allies. Sadly, the world has grown smaller and more dangerous, so it has been necessary to give our secret guardians more power. That means we must do more to keep an eye on them.
The 10-member all-party committee, which is led by Liberal David McGuinty, has managed to set aside partisanship, and you can tell because Mr. Trudeau is complaining about the members’ work. They gave us a useful report, but they did not, or could not, give us a way forward on what to do about the disloyal parliamentarians.
Some are calling for their names to be immediately made public, but we should turn our minds to other possibilities, since it would not be right to name them.
The report is based on intelligence that may not be accurate. It’s better to wait while Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, the foreign interference commissioner, investigates their alleged misdeeds, and hope she can come up with a way to deal with them.
Others have called for police investigations, which is a good idea, but using intelligence in that way is complex and delicate, and experience shows we would be unwise to expect the RCMP to get to the bottom of anything more complicated than a one-car accident.
It’s a mess, and there is no clear way to fix it. But there is reason to think things will improve. A long-overdue bill on foreign interference is on its way to becoming law, and in the future everyone involved in politics will likely think twice, whatever the laws say, about foreign dirty tricks, thanks to increased scrutiny and public awareness.
It would be better if our leaders were willing to set aside partisan concerns and act together, but that seems unlikely. It looks as though Mr. Trudeau did nothing while foreign agents went after his opponents, and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has declined to be sworn to secrecy to read the report, saying he’s afraid he would not be able to speak freely.
That’s too bad, because it would be better if all the leaders were able to have fully informed conversations. We need politicians who understand the security threats that Canada faces.
But we should be glad that at least we have a committee wrestling with these questions, and we should hope that eventually it will evolve into a full parliamentary committee, which would give it greater power and autonomy, like that enjoyed by similar committees in other, more grown-up countries.
The world is more dangerous, and we have no choice but to face that with our eyes open.