This appears to be a major scandal but at present the names of the people involved have all been redacted from a report published by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP). NSICOP is a group of MPs with top security clearances who issued their report last week.
Amid revelations that the House of Commons contains MPs who have “wittingly” collaborated with foreign governments, Parliamentarians have begun openly referring to these unnamed colleagues as “traitors.”
“Name The Traitors” wrote Independent MP Kevin Vuong in a Wednesday social media post.
We don’t have names but we do know some of the things they allegedly did with either full or partial knowledge of who they were working with.
- Communicating frequently with foreign missions before or during political campaigns to obtain support from community groups or businesses which the diplomatic missions promise to quietly mobilize in a candidate’s favour.
- 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.
- Providing foreign diplomatic officials with privileged information on the work or opinions of fellow parliamentarians, knowing that such information will be used by those officials to inappropriately pressure parliamentarians to change their positions.
- Responding to requests or direction from foreign officials to improperly influence parliamentary colleagues or parliamentary business to the advantage of a foreign state.
- Providing information learned in confidence from the government to a known intelligence officer of a foreign state.
Another thing redacted in the report is which foreign governments were the beneficiaries of all this help but the general belief is that China and India are the two countries most involved with meddling in Canadian politics.
The conservative party is demanding the names of the alleged traitors but the government says it can’t release them.
The worst example cited, with names and details redacted in the published report, concerned a former MP who engaged in communications with a senior official of a foreign intelligence service and tried to arrange a meeting overseas with this official. According to CSIS, confidential information was passed.
There is no other word for it. This is treason.
The Conservative party has demanded that the names of alleged “witting” politicians who have served foreign states be released. Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc has shot back saying no government would agree to release names in cases like this, based on secret intelligence and possibly still under investigation.
More from the deputy Prime Minister:
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters Tuesday that she takes the issue seriously. She deflected when asked if Canadians have the right to know the identity of the parliamentarians involved.
“We should recognize this is a new time,” she said, adding that authoritarians want to undermine democracies by sowing public distrust in government.
Freeland would not commit to releasing names, nor did she agree that “sunlight” on the issue would benefit democracy. On Wednesday, after her Liberal party’s weekly caucus meeting, she ignored questions on the topic.
I don’t want to make assumptions but if the conservatives are calling for names and the Liberals are not, that might tell us something about what is being whispered behind the scenes about who is involved. Keep in mind, Justin Trudeau has already seen the unredacted version of the report.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau already has access to the unredacted version of the NSICOP report and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh will be receiving his confidential briefing shortly. Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet is in the process of receiving his top-secret security clearance. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May has also requested access to the report.
Only Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has refused to get his security clearance to see the full contents of the NSICOP report, arguing that he would be bound to secrecy.
In a letter to LeBlanc and Hogue, the Conservatives suggested that the commission “issue a finding of fact” for each case where an MP has “knowingly” participated in foreign interference activities and report back to Parliament no later than Oct. 1.
Today the Liberals committed to an investigation which will presumably drag this out for many months. How in the world can Parliament carry on when there are credible allegations some of its members are actual traitors working with foreign governments? This just doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that should get the government slow-walk treatment.
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