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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has told Canada’s spy agency it needs to share more information with the federal government about threats to members of Parliament following reports that the Chinese government was targeting Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family.
“Even if [the Canadian Security Intelligence Service] 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 told reporters Wednesday.
“We are making that directive now.”
While the prime minister insisted he only learned about the case this week, Chong said Trudeau’s response raises serious concerns about his grip on intelligence and security matters.
WATCH | CSIS decided not to brief government about alleged threats: PM
Speaking with reporters about his knowledge of alleged threats to a Conservative MP’s family, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he is giving CSIS the directive moving forward that ‘when there are concerns that talk specifically about any MP, particularly about their family’ he needs to be briefed.
On Monday, the Globe and Mail, citing a 2021 top-secret document and an anonymous national security source, reported that China’s intelligence agency was seeking information about an unnamed Canadian MP’s relatives “who may be located in the PRC, for further potential sanctions.”
The Globe reported that MP was Chong, and that he was targeted over his support for a parliamentary motion condemning Beijing’s conduct in Xinjiang, a region in northwestern China, as genocide. The Globe also said that Zhao Wei, a Chinese diplomat in Canada, was working on this matter.
The prime minister and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino have both said they only learned about the allegations from Monday’s newspaper report and that CSIS didn’t previously pass on information.
“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,” Trudeau said Wednesday.
“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.”
Chong said Wednesday that CSIS did give him a “defensive briefing” — a term the agency uses for an educational briefing — but it was general in nature and didn’t contain information about Zhao.
The Wellington-Halton Hills MP said the whole affair calls into question Trudeau’s grip on intelligence and security matters.
“The prime minister and the prime minister alone is responsible for the machinery of government. And for the prime minister not to know about this, not to be interested in this, I think calls into question the PMO’s handle on the machinery of government,” Chong said.
“If it turns out that the ministers of the Crown were aware of this two years ago and did nothing about it, it suggests political calculations were at play. If ministers of the Crown and their offices were completely unaware of this, this shows an appalling breakdown of leadership on the part of the prime minister.”
WATCH | Chong calls for more information on who knew about alleged threats against his family
Conservative MP Michael Chong speaks with reporters about the briefing he received from CSIS on foreign interference and reports that the Chinese government was targeting him and his family. ‘For the prime minister not to know about this … calls into question the PMO’s handle on the machinery of government,” he said.
The prime minister said Wednesday he has been following up on the matter.
“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,” he said.
“When it comes to an MP’s safety, when it comes to their families’ safety, we need to know.”
Chong said he made a deliberate decision to sever contact with his family in Hong Kong for their protection.
“I have not spoken to my family in China in years. I, like many many Canadians across the country whose family lives in authoritarian states, have had to face the difficult dilemma of how to protect the family in these authoritarian states,” he said.
“So I don’t know exactly what is going on and I’ve chosen to take that decision out of an abundance of caution.”
NDP asks for briefing on MP threats
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, speaking with reporters on Parliament Hill before Trudeau did, said he’s not convinced the national security service would keep such threats quiet.
“I find it very hard to believe that CSIS would produce a document about a Canadian MP’s family being threatened because of a vote on the floor of the House of Commons and that they wouldn’t tell the prime minister or his top public safety minister,” he said.
WATCH | Next steps in Chong situation? Poilievre details expectations from government
Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre says he wants the Liberal cabinet to explain when it knew about threats from Beijing that were made to Conservative MP Michael Chong.
“This is insane. You know, if any one of you were to threaten the family of an MP because of a vote in the house of commons, you would be in jail. This guy’s not only not in jail, he’s in Canada with diplomatic immunity.”
On Thursday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh wrote to Trudeau asking him to meet with 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 leaders,” 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.”
Trudeau appointed former governor general David Johnston as a special rapporteur to look into how Canada and its intelligence agencies have handled the problem.
Johnston has been asked to make a decision about whether an inquiry is needed by May 23.
CSIS is responsible for advising the federal government on security matters but is strictly constrained in terms of who can view its classified and operational information.
In the past, CSIS director David Vigneault has said he believes the agency’s enabling law is undermining his officials’ ability to spread warnings.
“Our act enables advice to government but limits our ability to provide relevant advice to key partners,” he said in a 2021 speech.
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