Green Party leader calls on colleagues to discuss contentious NSICOP report in private
Elizabeth May says 'the word treason does not apply to any current, sitting MP'
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May says it's time for her fellow party leaders to sit down for "an adult conversation" about the foreign interference report released earlier this month that's been dominating debate in Ottawa for the past two weeks.
"I think that conversation has to happen in a secure location where we all have top secret security clearance and can discuss things with each other without a media lens," she said.
"I think when we do that, we will be able to continue the work that actually puts in place the kinds of protections we need."
On June 3, the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), a cross-party committee of MPs and senators with top security clearances, released a heavily redacted document alleging, based on intelligence reports, that some parliamentarians have been "semi-witting or witting" participants in the efforts of foreign states to interfere in Canadian politics.
The report also said foreign interference is targeting federal party nomination contests, leadership races and other lower levels of politics.
So far, May and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh are the only opposition leaders to read the unredacted report.
During separate news conferences last week, May and Singh presented different impressions of what they gleaned from the report.
May said she was relieved to learn that none of her House of Commons colleagues knowingly betrayed their country — a position she stood by on Monday.
"I will be firmly clear again in saying I read the full, unredacted report [and] the word treason does not apply to any current, sitting MP, at least in the unredacted report of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians," she said. "And they went through 33,000 pages of intelligence information to come to that conclusion.
"There's no reason to create an atmosphere of McCarthyism ... a witch hunt feeling of which MPs can be trusted."
On Thursday, Singh said he was more alarmed after reading the report and he's "more convinced than ever" that some parliamentarians are "willing participants" in foreign states' efforts to interfere in Canadian politics.
While Singh used the present tense while speaking to reporters, a NDP spokesperson later said the leader's comments should not be taken as confirming or denying that the parliamentarians cited in the report are currently serving.
May doesn't see contradictions in Singh's version of report
On Monday, May said she's confident in her understanding of the report and she doesn't see vast contradictions between her interpretation and Singh's.
"I think we'll make progress when we can sit down together and discuss it together such that if there are differences of interpretation, we can get into details and discuss them, which we can't do in news conferences," she said.
To read the report, party leaders with the appropriate security clearances are sent to a secure room — alone -— without electronic devices or a paper and pen.
"It's an exercise that requires rigour and careful attention to detail," said May.
"Which is why I'm concerned about the potential back and forth between one person in one party saying one thing and another person in another party saying a different thing."
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet has said he's inquired about getting a security clearance to view the report.
So far, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has resisted calls to obtain a security clearance to read the classified report.
Alana Cahill, the NDP's director of communications, said the party would be on board with a meeting — but only if all the party leaders read the unredacted report first.
"No one should put the interests of their party over the interests of the country," she said.
"We think any meeting can only be productive if it includes all the party leaders once they have all read the report. We look forward to M. Blanchet and Mr. Poilievre getting their clearances and joining the discussion. This shouldn't be a debate about perceptions of the report; it should be a meeting of all party leaders to discuss actions."
Trudeau has concerns about report
On Sunday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he has concerns about some of the report's findings.
"There are a number of the conclusions of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians report that we don't entirely align with," Trudeau told reporters at the end of the Ukraine Peace Summit in Switzerland.
He did not specify the nature of his concerns.
Trudeau referred to previous comments by Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who has raised concerns about NSICOP's interpretation of intelligence reports.
The day the report was released, LeBlanc suggested it left out important context and did not acknowledge "the full breadth of outreach that has been done with respect to informing parliamentarians about the threat posed by foreign interference."
Trudeau said the fact that May and Singh came to different conclusions about the same report "demonstrated" his government's concerns.
Hogue will review NSICOP findings
Last week, the House of Commons passed a Bloc Québécois motion to expand the mandate of the public inquiry investigating foreign election interference to allow it to probe the claims in the NSICOP report concerning MPs and senators.
On Monday, inquiry Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue released a statement saying she already has access to all of the documents reviewed by NSICOP and believes she can review the committee's conclusions within her existing framework.
She said the commission will make every effort to have its final report done by the initial deadline of Dec. 31.
Hogue released her initial report last month. It found that attempts by other countries to meddle in the 2019 and 2021 general elections did not determine which party formed the government.
"Nonetheless, the acts of interference that occurred are a stain on our electoral process and impacted the process leading up to the actual vote," Hogue wrote.
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