Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during question period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Sept. 18.Blair Gable/Reuters
Canada’s inquiry into foreign interference entered its second half this week, with a shift in focus from the meddling that occurred in the last two federal elections to the issue of the targetting of MPs in general, and the things Ottawa needs to do to protect democracy from malevolent actors.
Potentially included in that latter category is an unnamed group of MPs who are alleged to have wittingly colluded with foreign governments in the past – a shocking revelation made in a heavily redacted report released in June by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians.
The inquiry, led by Quebec Court of Appeal Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, will look into the allegations. But Justice Hogue on Monday insisted it is not her place, or even within her power, to name the MPs who wittingly or unwittingly abetted foreign efforts to influence federal elections.
She argues that she can’t disclose the allegations, or even present them to the subjects of the allegations, because they are based on classified information.
In other words, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau must be the one to name names. And he must do it now.
It is within his powers to do so. NSICOP, a committee of parliamentarians armed with top secret security clearance, is not like a regular parliamentary committee. It is a creature of the Prime Minister’s Office. Mr. Trudeau controls who is a member and the chair, and they answer only to him; his office vets and redacts its reports prior to their release.
Any pieties coming from the Trudeau government about an absolutist need to keep sensitive intelligence under wraps are undone by the fact Mr. Trudeau stood up in the House of Commons a year ago and disclosed classified allegations that Indian government agents were behind the assassination of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in Surrey, B.C., in 2023. (In May, the RCMP in Edmonton arrested three Indian nationals in connection with the killing.)
The revelation in the House caused a diplomatic crisis with the Modi government, something Mr. Trudeau didn’t seem overly concerned about. Nor was he bothered by the fact he had made an allegation that he did not support by releasing the intelligence behind it. He made his accusation and then left it hanging, without providing evidence.
And yet, in the case of MPs who have sworn to “be faithful and bear true allegiance” in their duties, the Trudeau government says it would be unfair to those involved to name names, because it would rob them of due process and compromise their ability to defend themselves.
But just as it strikes a reasonable person that the political assassination by foreign agents of a Canadian on Canadian soil rises to a level of seriousness that would permit a bending of the rules, so too does the allegation that there are elected officials or others in Parliament who are collaborating with hostile governments.
The people implicated would not be unfairly treated. They would have multiple options for defending and explaining themselves: in the House, or at Justice Hogue’s inquiry, or in a court of law, if it came to that. And it seems unlikely that the revelation of their names would come as a surprise to them; the more likely scenario is that they would be alerted in advance and given time to prepare a response – a response that might well exonerate them.
We need to know their names now, before an election is triggered.
It is incomprehensible that a country would learn that there may be foreign government collaborators walking its halls of power, and then take no discernible action. Ottawa’s lack of urgency in so serious a matter is corrosive to voters’ trust in democracy, and raises questions about Canada’s willingness to defend itself.
The threat inherent in this inaction is exacerbated by the fact another election could come any time, what with the Trudeau minority government’s precarious hold on power.
As it stands, someone who wittingly aided in the distortion of previous elections could be re-elected, or work on another MP’s campaign, or in a party office, while hiding behind an anonymity granted them by the Trudeau government.
We will say it for a third time in four months: the government should name names in Parliament, let those facing allegations defend themselves there and elsewhere, and finally demonstrate the backbone to defend Canada.