Intel on ‘non-specific’ threats to MPs made it to PCO. Why not the PM?

The Privy Council Office, the department that supports Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, confirms it received a 2021 security briefing detailing foreign interference threats to MPs.

A 2021 intelligence briefing at the centre of the latest foreign interference controversy included “non-specific threat information relating to MPs,” the Privy Council Office says.

The intelligence briefing, compiled by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), was circulated to the Privy Council Office (PCO) as well as other “national security departments,” PCO told Global News in a statement.

But PCO, the central federal department that supports Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said the “information was not raised with ministers or the prime minister.”

It’s not clear which MPs were subject to those “non-specific” threats from foreign powers, or if the MPs were named in the CSIS document. Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino refused to name which MPs were believed to have been targeted, citing federal secrecy rules.

“The intelligence community has now been given new direction … for flagging threats regarding MPs and their families, including non-specific threats, to senior public servants and ministers,” a PCO spokesperson said in response to Global’s questions Wednesday.

“Work is underway to implement these changes.”

The House of Commons voted unanimously Wednesday to open a probe into allegations that members of Conservative MP Michael Chong’s family were targeted by Beijing for “potential sanctions.” The allegations were first reported by the Globe and Mail, citing the 2021 CSIS document and unnamed national security sources.

After the Globe’s story, Trudeau told reporters on May 3 that he first heard about the allegations through the newspaper and suggested CSIS did not sufficiently circulate the intelligence amongst senior officials.