Singh says report shows some MPs are ‘traitors to the country,’ accuses Trudeau of accepting foreign interference

Open this photo in gallery:

Some of the MPs mentioned in a classified version of a national-security watchdog’s report into foreign interference are traitors to Canada, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in an explosive press conference, in which he also accused the Prime Minister of allowing malign states to infest domestic politics.

He presented a dramatically different interpretation of the report than Green Party Leader Elizabeth May did earlier in the week when she said she saw no signs of disloyalty from current MPs and that reading the report left her “vastly relieved.”

“I am not relieved after reading this report,” Mr. Singh told reporters on Parliament Hill Thursday. “I am more concerned.”

He said he now has even more faith in the conclusions reached in the public version of the report released last week by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP). That report from the all-party committee said the country’s intelligence services found some parliamentarians to be “semi-witting or witting” participants in foreign-interference efforts.

“What they’re doing is unethical. It is in some cases against the law,” Mr. Singh said. “They are indeed traitors to the country.”

“In short, there are a number of MPs who have knowingly provided help to foreign governments, some to the detriment of Canada, and Canadians.”

Mr. Singh said he was named in the report as one of the targets of interference and indicated that no NDP MPs are among those named as participants in it.

The NDP Leader criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for failing to act despite having the classified report since March. And he accused Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of turning a blind eye by declining to read the report.

He also called on all party leaders to come together to agree on how to deal with those parliamentarians allegedly participating in foreign interference. However, by Thursday night, that appeared unlikely. In a statement, the Conservatives dismissed the NDP Leader’s comments, citing in part his continued support of the minority Liberals, and the Prime Minister’s Office declined to provide any comment at all.

In failing to act, Mr. Singh said the Prime Minister “has sent the message that he is willing to accept some level of foreign interference.”

He said Mr. Trudeau has had access to intelligence that “raises concerns about MPs knowingly benefiting from foreign interference.” Mr. Singh said that while the Prime Minister might disagree with the intelligence, “he has not taken the steps he should have to deal with this.”

An example of this already in the public domain is the Liberal Party’s handling of now independent MP Han Dong’s nomination, Mr. Singh said.

Based on information revealed at the public inquiry into foreign interference, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service gave Liberal Party officials a classified briefing before the 2019 election about irregularities in Mr. Dong’s nomination race. Mr. Trudeau told the inquiry that the intelligence wasn’t “sufficiently credible” to remove him.

Mr. Dong resigned from the Liberal caucus last year amid foreign-interference allegations that he denies.

Mr. Singh said the Prime Minister made the wrong call at the time and showed malign states that there is no consequence for interfering in domestic affairs.

Despite his heavy criticism, the NDP Leader said he would not break his agreement to keep the minority Liberals in power. He argued that another election is not the solution to election interference.

Last week, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc welcomed the report but said the government disagreed with the committee’s interpretation of some of the intelligence.

While the Prime Minister is choosing inaction, Mr. Singh said the Conservative Leader is choosing ignorance. Mr. Poilievre is the only leader that has declined access to classified information on foreign intelligence, including the NSICOP report.

The report said that China and India interfered in Conservative leadership races in the timeframe it was reviewing: September, 2018 to March, 2024. There were two races held in that window. One in 2020, won by Erin O’Toole, and another in 2022, which Mr. Poilievre won.

The report’s public version says there were “two specific instances” where officials from the People’s Republic of China allegedly interfered in the leadership races. It also says India allegedly interfered in one of the leadership races.

“Pierre Poilievre doesn’t even want to know about serious allegations touching his party,” Mr. Singh said. “To me that disqualifies him as a leader.”

The NDP is calling on the foreign-interference inquiry led by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue to also investigate the alleged interference in the Conservative leadership races. The government said Thursday that it supports that suggestion, but the Conservatives dismissed the request as a stunt in a statement to The Globe and Mail.

In response to Mr. Singh, Mr. Poilievre’s spokesperson, Sam Lilly, said the NDP was deflecting and said the leader’s press conference shows the futility of reading the classified report, because he didn’t go further than the conclusions in the public version and wasn’t able to disclose the names of the parliamentarians implicated.

If Mr. Singh was truly concerned about the report’s revelations “then he should stop blindly supporting the Liberal government and let them face Canadians in an election,” Mr. Lilly said.

Mr. Lilly said Conservatives continue to want to see the government release names of parliamentarians who wittingly assisted foreign states. He also said the public inquiry should examine intelligence and make key facts available to Parliament and the public.

Last week’s report from NSICOP did not always distinguish between senators and MPs and instead often referred to parliamentarians.

It said examples of the “semi-witting or witting” participation in foreign interference include: relying on foreign missions to get campaign support from affiliated entities; accepting funds or benefits from foreign missions or their proxies; providing diplomats privileged information to then inappropriately put pressure on other parliamentarians; responding to the requests or direction of foreign officials to improperly influence parliamentary work; and sharing confidential government information with a known foreign intelligence officer.

The report said the behaviour of the unnamed parliamentarians was in some cases likely criminal and that all “are deeply unethical” and “contrary to the oaths and affirmations parliamentarians take to conduct themselves in the best interest of Canada.”

Mr. Singh said the report shows that the issue goes beyond federal politics and that there are “politicians at all levels of government who have benefited from foreign interference.”

In a press conference on Tuesday, Ms. May said the secret version of the report does not detail any examples of sitting MPs being disloyal to Canada.

“While a few named people may have been compromised by foreign influence, it falls far short of what could be considered disloyalty to Canada,” Ms. May said at the press conference.

In a statement, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet criticized the contradictory messages from Ms. May and Mr. Singh and suggested that they indirectly shared the classified report’s contents. He said he would get the briefing to make an “informed contribution” to solving the crisis.

University of Ottawa professor Thomas Juneau, who specializes in national security and intelligence, said the contradictory assessments of the report and the absence of a transparent and rigorous process to deal with the allegations has led to the “worst of both worlds right now, which is confusion and chaos.”

He argued against delegating this issue to Justice Hogue and said it was instead time for political leaders to decide next steps.

“The government has to take some form of leadership on that process, as opposed to just allowing things to muddle along.”