NDP leader says he's more alarmed after reading unredacted intelligence report

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Thursday he's "more convinced than ever" that some parliamentarians are "willing participants" in foreign states' efforts to interfere in Canadian politics after reading an unredacted version of a bombshell report from one of Canada's intelligence oversight bodies.

But after a raucous half-hour scrum with reporters, he would not confirm whether he was referring to serving MPs.

Last week, the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), a cross-party committee of MPs and senators with top security clearances, released a heavily blacked-out document alleging, based on intelligence, that some parliamentarians have been "semi-witting or witting" participants in the efforts of foreign states to interfere in Canadian politics.

"I am more alarmed today than I was yesterday after having read the report," Singh told reporters Thursday afternoon.

"In short, there are a number of MPs who have knowingly provided help to foreign governments, some to the detriment of Canada and Canadians."

A party spokesperson later said that Singh's comments should not be taken as confirming or denying that the parliamentarians cited in the report are currently serving.

Singh told reporters some of the cases he read about appear to be criminal and should be prosecuted, and all of the behaviour cited in the report was "deeply unethical."

"I am more convinced than ever of the conclusions of the NSICOP committee and the report, that some parliamentarians are willing participants in the efforts of foreign states to interfere in our politics," he said.

The NDP leader also confirmed that he was a target of foreign interference but would not elaborate on what the report had to say. Singh also said there are also politicians from all levels of government who have benefited from foreign interference.

Singh's statements on the report were very different from those Green Party Leader Elizabeth May gave earlier this week after reading the unredacted report.

During a news conference Tuesday, May said she doesn't believe any of her House of Commons colleagues knowingly betrayed their country.

"I am very comfortable sitting with my colleagues," she said.

"Are there currently MPs sitting with us in the chamber who would set out knowingly to sell out Canada for personal benefit? If there are, there's no evidence of that in the full report."

While May said she was "relieved" after reading the report, she added the report points to troubling cases of foreign interference across different levels of government and civil society.