Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc insists that federal law prevents the government from releasing further information about people alleged to have worked with foreign states.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
The federal government flatly rejected demands to release the names of parliamentarians who this week were accused in a national-security watchdog report of knowingly working with foreign states to meddle in Canadian democracy.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc made the categorical statements on Parliament Hill Thursday amid a barrage of demands from the Conservatives in the House public safety committee and Question Period to disclose more information. But Mr. LeBlanc said “no” and also declined to say how many parliamentarians are accused of such work and whether any are in cabinet.
On Monday, the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), released a report that said a number of federal politicians are knowingly working with countries such as India and China. Among the allegations are that they shared privileged information with foreign diplomats and accepted money from foreign governments or their proxies.
The NSICOP report is the latest to outline deficiencies in how the government addresses meddling by foreign powers in Canadian democracy.
The Public Safety Minister insisted that federal law prevents the government from releasing further information about the people at the centre of those allegations, and he urged party leaders to instead get their own classified briefings and said Canadians should have confidence that police can investigate and lay charges when warranted.
“That’s our system in a rule-of-law democracy. It’s not simply releasing a series of names,” Mr. LeBlanc said.
The Globe and Mail reported on Wednesday that the names of some parliamentarians are included in the classified version of the report.
The head of Canada’s spy agency, David Vigneault, cautioned members of Parliament against releasing the names, saying doing so could make the future work of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service more difficult, which he said would damage national security.
But he also told committee members not to expect prosecutions to result from the allegations because of the challenges of turning intelligence into evidence. He urged party leaders to get classified briefings and take matters into their own hands, for example, by removing a caucus member or barring someone from a nomination race.
Mr. Vigneault said intelligence shouldn’t just be left to law enforcement and should be used for “other types of decision-making.” He said such steps would help deter foreign interference because if foreign actors don’t see “enough consequences for their activities, they will be emboldened to do more.”
So far, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has declined to accept a briefing, saying it would muzzle him. Instead, he says the names should be released by the government. Monday’s report said intelligence documents detail allegations that some federal politicians are “semi-witting or witting” participants in foreign states’ efforts to interfere in Canadian politics.
Despite national-security laws protecting intelligence information, politicians can use the legal shield of parliamentary privilege to disclose such information in the House of Commons.
The NDP are also calling for the government to “find a way” to disclose the names.
“Canadians absolutely deserve to know who these MPs are who are working to undermine our democracy,” NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in a statement.
He also said it’s absurd that the Prime Minister has had the classified version of the report since March but “hasn’t taken any action.”
Until Thursday, the Liberals had avoided directly responding to the demands for more disclosure, but Mr. LeBlanc changed course at the public safety committee. He argued that releasing the names would be counter to Canada’s democratic and judicial processes.
“It’s important for Canadians to understand that these names are contained in intelligence reports; in some cases, it’s uncorroborated, or unverified intelligence information,” Mr. LeBlanc said.
“The idea that there’s a perfect list of names that is entirely reliable that should be released to the public is simply irresponsible.”
Without the names, Conservative MP Frank Caputo said there is a “cloud of suspicion on every member of the House.”
Mr. LeBlanc resisted the entreaties from Conservatives but conceded that he is aware of “a number of names that were surfaced in various intelligence products” that he has seen. Still, he said he couldn’t say whether those names are the same ones that the NSICOP committee is referring to because he doesn’t have the details of which documents the committee relied on.
The watchdog report said that some parliamentarians are “accepting knowingly or through willful blindness funds or benefits from foreign missions or their proxies which have been layered or otherwise disguised to conceal their source.”
The Public Safety Minister repeatedly urged Mr. Poilievre to get his security clearance so that he can also receive the classified briefings. At the Thursday committee, senior government officials said that while rules would prevent the Conservative Leader from disclosing what he has learned publicly, it wouldn’t stop him from acting.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national security and intelligence adviser Nathalie Drouin told the committee that the briefing would ensure leaders have the necessary information to act in by-elections, general elections and in managing their caucus.
“There’s a lot of things that they can do when they are being armed with this information, without, you know, disclosing publicly the information they received,” Ms. Drouin said.
Mr. Vigneault amplified her comments and called MPs’ attention to the line in the report that noted that while it may be illegal for federal politicians to collaborate with foreign states, they are unlikely to lead to criminal charges because of a “long-standing issue of protecting classified information and methods in judicial processes.”
While there might not be a large amount of accountability through the judicial process, he said there could still be accountability if leaders get briefed and act on the information.
Carleton University associate professor Philippe Lagassé penned an opinion piece advocating for a similar solution. In an interview, he also said that through parliamentary privilege, a cabinet minister could rise in the House to share the names and not risk legal action, though he did not advocate that approach.
He said Parliament is facing a “serious reckoning” in its understanding of foreign interference and lacks a “culture of seriousness around this issue.”
Frustration frequently boiled over at committee. Liberal MP Jennifer O’Connell heckled Mr. Caputo during his questioning. When it was raised on a point of order by Conservatives, Ms. O’Connell replied “boo-hoo, get over it.”
Mr. LeBlanc also derided the Official Opposition for what he said were disingenuous comments aimed at churning out clips for their social-media channels and at one point said Conservative MP Michael Cooper deserved a “gold star for theatrics.”
“This is about as serious as it gets,” Mr. Cooper replied, “We have members of Parliament working for hostile foreign states.”