Tory MP Says Committee Examining Foreign Interference Won’t Get Needed Answers, Based on Past Experience

Conservative MP Michael Chong rises during question period in the House of Commons on Oct. 5, 2018. Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

Conservative MP Michael Chong says a committee studying foreign election interference that is made up of parliamentarians but reports only to the prime minister is unlikely to be very productive if past experience is anything to go by.

Chong was referring to the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), which reviews matters of national security and intelligence and reports to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The committee includes MPs from multiple parties along with one senator.

Chong says the Liberal government previously “hid behind” NSICOP during an investigation into a Canadian government scientist at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg allegedly collaborating with a high-ranking Chinese military officer.

“Two years ago, we asked for the Winnipeg lab docs regarding major national security breaches at the government’s top level lab. The government hid behind NSICOP. Two years later we still don’t have any answers about what exactly happened at the Winnipeg lab,” Chong wrote on Twitter on March 7.

“Now, we’re asking for documents related to Beijing’s interference in Canadian elections. Again, the government is hiding behind NSICOP. I think everyone can understand why we are sceptical about NSICOP.”

NSICOP will be reviewing foreign interference attempts in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 federal elections following reports by Global News and the Globe and Mail citing sources and leaked intelligence information detailing Beijing’s attempts to interfere in them.

Referring back to old comments Trudeau made about the Winnipeg lab story in June 2021, Chong said the prime minister is “wrong” to say the election interference reports should be investigated by NSICOP.

He says NSICOP is “not a committee of parliament, but a committee of parliamentarians,” adding that all committee members are appointed by and can be removed by Trudeau.

“In other words, the PM can hire and fire NSICOP members at will - they work for him. It’s written right into the Act.”

The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) is also independently examining foreign interference in Canada’s recent elections.

Trudeau has defended the investigations by both NSIRA and NSICOP.

“On matters of national security, it’s extremely important that we continue to give Canadians confidence that our experts and our officials are doing their jobs,” he said in the House of Commons on March 8.

NSICOP

NSICOP was created in 2019 by Bill C-22, An Act to establish the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians and to make consequential amendments to certain Acts.

The committee’s members are appointed by the Governor in Council according to the prime minister’s recommendations.

The committee must submit an annual report to the prime minister summarizing its findings and any recommendations for the government.

However, if the prime minister believes the disclosure of any information in the committee’s report would harm national security or other privacy matters, he can direct NSICOP to submit “a revised version of the annual or special report that does not contain that information.”

Chong also pointed out that another clause in the legislation allows for cabinet ministers to refuse to provide information from their department to the committee if they believe its revelation would be harmful to national security.

“NSICOP is accountable to the gov’t—not the other way around,” Chong wrote on Twitter on June 1, 2021. “When the gov’t fails to uphold national security, it must be held accountable.”

Noé Chartier, Omid Ghoreishi, and Andrew Chen contributed to this report.