MPs hearing from top intelligence officials as foreign interference allegations stack up
CTV
As reports of alleged Chinese interference in the last two federal elections stack up, MPs on the House of Commons committee examining foreign election interference are hearing from some of Canada's highest-ranking intelligence officials.
As reports of alleged Chinese interference in the last two federal elections stack up, MPs on the House of Commons committee examining foreign election interference are hearing from some of Canada's highest-ranking intelligence officials.
Getting underway at 3 p.m. members of the Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC) are questioning a list of federal witnesses starting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's National Security and Intelligence Adviser Jody Thomas, foreign affairs associate deputy minister Cindy Termorshuizen, and public safety deputy minister Shawn Tupper.
Following that trio, members of the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force will appear, including CSIS director general of intelligence assessments Adam Fisher, RCMP executive director of intelligence and international policing Adriana Poloz, and the Communication Security Establishment's (CSE) deputy chief of signals intelligence, Alia Tayyeb.
It's expected these witnesses will be prodded by members of Parliament for information about what they know about attempts by China to meddle in and influence Canada's democratic process and what they advised Trudeau of in this regard.
Questions will likely also be raised over what the federal government is doing about the accusations being made, but given it’s a public meeting and the issue concerns highly sensitive information, it remains to be seen how detailed their responses will be.
As well, the NDP are expected to advance a motion early in the hearing asking for a national inquiry to be launched into allegations of foreign interference in Canada's democracy, with the power to compel national security documents and call key government and political figures to testify.
Conservatives will be looking to amend the NDP proposal to ensure PROC work continues, which could mean part of Wednesday's meeting could be spent dealing with a degree of procedural wrangling.
