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OTTAWA – The federal government called “misleading” an intelligence oversight committee’s assertion this week that it was barred from accessing all or part of 1,000 documents during its review into foreign interference due to “cabinet confidence.”
The Privy Council Office (PCO) in a statement to National Post on Friday challenged the accusation by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP). NSICOP said in its 2023 annual report that it was not given access to hundreds of documents as part of a review of foreign interference into Canada as the government had cited “cabinet confidence.”
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PCO spokesperson Pierre-Alain Bujold said in his statement that the government was transparent with all review agencies including NSICOP and that it provided all the information that “aligns with the mandate provided by Parliament, as defined by the NSICOP Act.”
“This legislation does not provide access to cabinet confidences,” Bujold wrote.
In its 2023 annual report published Wednesday, NSICOP wrote that government departments and agencies refused to disclose all or part of “over a thousand documents” as part of its review into foreign interference against Canada on the basis that they were cabinet confidences.
“The Committee is concerned that some departments and agencies may be inappropriately using claims of Cabinet confidences to avoid disclosing information to the Committee,” reads the annual report.
But Bujold disputed that in his statement Friday.
“With regards to NSICOP citing over 1000 documents being withheld, it would be misleading to suggest that anything close to that would apply to the number of actual cabinet documents pertaining to or in any way touching on foreign interference in our elections,” Bujold wrote.
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Bujold’s statement also appeared to dispute the number of documents it declined to provide NSICOP due to cabinet confidences. Bujold suggested some of the thousand-plus documents cited by the committee were in fact draft documents and exchanges between bureaucrats.
“The number cited by NSICOP likely refers to the volume of back-and-forth correspondence between analysts from different departments as they work to refine policy proposals, not the actual number of documents,” Bujold wrote.
The statement sheds light on current tensions between PCO, the department that reports directly to the prime minister, and NSICOP regarding what information the oversight committee should be able to access as part of its reviews.
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NSICOP was established in 2017 to provide parliamentary oversight over intelligence agencies. The all-party committee is composed of MPs and senators who receive top security clearance and are sworn to secrecy.
Members of the committee have complained for years that they should only be barred from receiving “core” cabinet confidences, which they define as information “provided directly to cabinet or ministers attending Cabinet meetings and which reveal options, deliberations or discussions at those meetings.”
Cabinet confidence is a longstanding principle that dictates that deliberations at the cabinet table should remain confidential so as to allow ministers to “express their views freely during the discussions held in cabinet.”
On Monday, NSICOP published a shocking report stating that some parliamentarians are “wittingly or semi-wittingly” helping foreign governments, confirming previous reports about foreign interference in Canadian elections.
Without naming any individuals or parties, the report revealed that parliamentarians have provided confidential information to Indian government officials and advocated for the Indian government while in Parliament.
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The report also revealed that a former MP had maintained a relationship with a foreign intelligence officer and sought a meeting with that officer while in a foreign country.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc advised caution on some of those findings, arguing that they are based on intelligence that has not been proven and are just a piece of a larger puzzle.
In a statement Friday morning, LeBlanc’s press secretary, Jean-Sébastien Comeau, said NSICOP had access to all the intelligence the government has related to foreign interference in the last two federal elections.
“In putting together their special report on foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections, (NSICOP) had full access to the intelligence,” Comeau said.
Bujold’s statement also suggested that some information withheld from NSICOP may be provided at a later date after it has been further reviewed by the department.
“Due to the sheer volume of documents, some may also be initially withheld, as additional time may be needed to ensure proper redactions or reviews to ensure their pertinence to the question at hand,” he wrote.
cnardi@postmedia.com
National Post
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