Trudeau says he has made it ‘very clear’ to CSIS to share more information after China targeted Chong
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has told Canada’s spy agency it needs to share more information with the federal government when it comes to threats against MPs and their families following reports that the Chinese government was targeting Conservative Michael Chong and his family.
“We are making that directive now,” Trudeau told reporters on Wednesday.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) “knew about certain things, didn’t feel that it reached a threshold that required them to pass it up out of CSIS or give more than just a defensive briefing to Mr. Chong a few months later.”
On Monday, the Globe and Mail, citing a top-secret document and an anonymous national security source, reported that China’s intelligence agency was seeking information on an unnamed Canadian MP’s relatives “who may be located in the PRC, for further potential sanctions.”
The story goes on to say that MP was Chong, following his support of a parliamentary motion condemning Beijing’s conduct in Xinjiang, a region in northwestern China, as genocide and that Zhao Wei, a Chinese diplomat in Canada, was working on this matter.
The Globe wrote that when it originally reached out to Chong for comment, he said he had no knowledge of this.
Conservative MP Michael Chong asks Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino when he ‘first became aware that a PRC diplomat was targeting a member of this House and their family.’
On Thursday Trudeau said he has been following up on the matter and was told that CSIS has been giving Chong “defensive briefings,” a term the agency uses for to mean an educational briefing.
“We asked what happened to that information, was it ever briefed up out of CSIS, it was not. CSIS made the determination that it wasn’t something that needed be raised to a higher level because it wasn’t a significant enough concern,” the prime minister said, adding that is going to change.
“Going forward, we’re making it very, very clear to CSIS and all our intelligence officials that when there are concerns that talk specifically about any MP, particularly about their family, those need to be elevated. Even if CSIS doesn’t feel that it’s a sufficient level of concern for them to take more direct action, we still need to know about it at the upper government level,” Trudeau said.
“When it comes to an MP’s safety, when it comes to their families’ safety, we need to know.”
NDP asks for briefing on MP threats
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, speaking before Trudeau scrummed with reporters, said he found it “very hard to believe” that CSIS would have produced intelligence documents about threats involving an MP and wouldn’t tell the prime minister.
On Thursday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh wrote to Trudeau asking for a meeting with the Opposition leaders “to outline how such threats are received by you and the Minister of Public Safety, what you do with this information and how MPs are kept informed.”
“I believe that this is an issue that could impact all Members of Parliament. Any MP could be subject to similar threats. There are members in all our caucuses who have loved ones in countries where they may be subject to threats. I am therefore asking you to urgently meet with all Opposition leader,” Singh wrote.
“Canadians’ faith in their democracy has been shaken by your failure to call a public inquiry into foreign interference as every opposition leader has repeatedly demanded.”
