Ask the RCMP About Naming MPs Working for Foreign States, Says Intel Watchdog

David McGuinty, chair of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, holds a news conference to release the committee's annual report, in Ottawa on March 12, 2020. Fred Chartrand/The Canadian Press

The chair of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians says he can’t disclose the names of MPs working with foreign states, but the RCMP can respond to questions on the matter.  

“We have gone as far as we possibly can. We cannot add anything,” said Liberal MP David McGuinty in speaking to reporters in Ottawa June 5.

Mr. Guinty, who heads the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), released an explosive report on foreign interference June 3.

The report from the committee, composed of select parliamentarians of different stripes, says that some MPs “began wittingly assisting foreign state actors soon after their election.”

The committee members hold security clearances and reviewed approximately 4,000 documents for their study.

Examples mentioned include the Chinese regime having “quid pro quo” relationships with some MPs, based on engagement with Beijing resulting in the regime “mobilizing its network in the member’s favour.” The report also says some MPs have “proactively provided confidential information to Indian officials.”

When asked if NSICOP could reveal more details, Mr. Guinty replied that committee members are bound by the Security of Information Act “for the rest of their lives.”

“The question of whether or not this issue is followed-up on is a question rightly put to the RCMP,” he said. “It is up to the RCMP to decide on the basis of any intelligence or evidence they may have.”

Mr. McGuinty said his committee didn’t consider whether not naming specific MPs would cast dispersions on all the elected members.

“I haven’t looked at that question and the committee hasn’t examined that question, we did do our job.”

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland agreed that it’s up to the RCMP to decide what to do with the information contained in the report.

“I do really want to emphasize it needs to be law enforcement that takes the steps and takes the actions,” she told reporters June 4. “The actual enforcement actions can’t be politicized.”

Ms. Freeland called the issue of MPs working for foreign states a “grave, grave problem” and said there would be an internal review.

The Epoch Times contacted the RCMP for comment but did not receive a response prior to publication.

RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme, when testifying before the Foreign Interference Commission in early April, said the national police service had not opened criminal probes related to foreign interference during the last two elections.

Mr. Duheme said, however, that information was received later on and that some of the files remain under investigation.

An interim report released by the commission May 3 found that foreign interference did not impact the overall results of the 2019 and 2021 elections, but that results at the local level could have been affected.