Canada lawmakers who knowingly helped other nations must be removed, party leader says

OTTAWA - The head of a Canadian political party said on June 13 that an intelligence report about some members of Parliament acting as agents for other nations was concerning, and that offending lawmakers must be removed.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been on the defensive since a committee of lawmakers that focuses on security matters said in a heavily redacted report in June that some elected officials had been “witting or semi-witting” participants in foreign interference operations.

“I am more alarmed today than I was yesterday,” Mr Jagmeet Singh of the opposition left-leaning New Democrats said on June 13, after reading an unredacted version of that report.

Mr Singh, who as the leader of a major party exercised his right to request increased security clearance to read the documents, said the report showed Canada is vulnerable to foreign interference and weakened the confidence of citizens.

“If there continues to be no consequences for MPs who knowingly help foreign governments act against Canadian interests, we will continue to be an easy target,” Mr Singh said.

“Removing MPs who knowingly participate in foreign interference would have the deterring effect on this type of behaviour,” he added.

In the report, which was based on information from intelligence agencies, the committee of parliamentarians did not reveal any names but said India and China were the main foreign threats to Canada's democratic institutions.

Mr Singh did not name any lawmakers either, or say how many were named in the report or if any of them were sitting MPs, but he added that the report gave him “no reason” to remove any members of his own party.

Ministers have said naming legislators would break the law and that it would be up to the police to investigate.

On June 10, the Trudeau-led Liberal government, facing accusations that it is soft on security, bowed to opposition demands to refer the matter to a special inquiry under way to assess allegations of foreign interference in the last two Canadian elections.

The special inquiry, in an interim report, in May announced that it had found evidence of foreign interference in those federal elections, but said the results of the votes were not affected and that the electoral system was robust.

Canada's main spy agency in May said that persistent Chinese election meddling had the potential to undermine Canadian democracy. Beijing routinely denies accusations of interference. REUTERS