Missed Warning on Beijing’s Targeting of MPs: Blair Maintains CSIS to Blame

Former Public Safety Minister Bill Blair says CSIS didn’t take steps to ensure its brief was made available to him.

Defence Bill Minister Blair prepares to appear before the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs on a question of privilege related to an intimidation campaign against MP Michael Chong and other members, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Oct. 24, 2023. Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

Defence Minister Bill Blair has told MPs that Canada’s security apparatus bears responsibility for not informing him that the Chinese regime was targeting MPs.

Mr. Blair was testifying before the Procedure and House Affairs committee (PROC) on Oct. 24, which is studying the question of privilege affecting Conservative MP Michael Chong, one of the MPs targeted by Beijing.

Conservative MPs on the committee referenced a Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Issues Management Brief (IMB) from May 31, 2021, which was sent to Mr. Blair as then-minister of Public Safety, his deputy minister, and his chief of staff, and to the prime minister’s National Security and Intelligence Advisor (NSIA).

“There’s a difference between the [CSIS] director determining that the minister is authorized to see this, and then taking the steps that would have been necessary to actually make that possible,” said Mr. Blair in explaining why his name was on the note he says he didn’t receive.

The IMB advised that CSIS would be conducting defensive briefings with Mr. Chong and then-Tory MP Kenny Chiu. The IMB, obtained by The Epoch Times via an access-to-information request, said the MPs were of interest to “multiple” Chinese regime “threat actors,” including its spy service, the Ministry of State Security.

CSIS warned the government through two separate intelligence briefs in the spring and summer of 2021—the IMB and an intelligence assessment—that Beijing was going after members of Parliament.

“I sincerely believe that it was the director’s intent that the information be made available to me,” said Mr. Blair about the IMB. “Unfortunately, the steps were not taken by CSIS or by the Department of Public Safety to make that information available to me.”

He added that under “every other circumstance” CSIS Director David Vigneault would advise his office if information needed to be briefed.

When testifying before PROC in June, Mr. Vigneault said the proper procedure had been followed.

“My understanding of how the information flows from an agency to the minister is that this is sent to the department—in this case, the Department of Public Safety,” he said.

Mr. Blair said he and his chief of staff didn’t have access to the secure email system through which the IMB was sent.

‘Unable to Answer’

Mr. Blair’s former deputy minister Rob Stewart was also asked about the CSIS note when he testified before PROC on Oct. 19. He said he didn’t remember whether he had read it or not.

“I am unable to answer that question with specificity,” he said. “I would tell you that in the river of intelligence that crossed my desk, it could have occurred at any point in time subsequent to when it was written.”

Conservative MP Michael Cooper remarked that IMBs are not very common and are flagged for high importance. “And so did you read that note? Yes or no as a starting point,” he asked.

“Again, I do not recollect reading it, but I think I would have because I saw a lot of intelligence,” said Mr. Stewart.

Mr. Stewart, who is currently the deputy minister of International Trade, also said he had not briefed Mr. Blair on the CSIS note, saying it was not his responsibility. He said the minister is responsible for deciding which briefings he receives.

“The system we had at the time put me on the side of briefing the minister,” he said. “The briefing of the minister was done by the [CSIS] director, it’s between them to decide what are the topics and concerns. I’m there, but I’m not responsible for that.”

The deputy minister also said he didn’t recall reading the July 2021 CSIS assessment on Beijing’s interference, which spoke of MPs being targeted but didn’t identify them by name.

“Michael Chong was left in the dark. That amounted to a complete breakdown in process,” said Mr. Cooper.

Mr. Stewart replied that “many people” are being targeted on an “ongoing basis” by foreign interference and that it wasn’t his job to inform them.

Not for ‘Action’

The CSIS assessment was sent to all relevant departments but apparently didn’t reach any minister.

Mike MacDonald, who was briefly serving as acting NSIA when the CSIS assessment was sent to the Privy Council Office, told PROC on Oct. 17 that it didn’t come to him and he learned about it after The Globe and Mail reported about it in May.

David Morrison, who served as NSIA after Mr. MacDonald, said he did read the CSIS assessment but decided not to brief the prime minister about it. “It was not a memorandum for action, it was a report for awareness,” he explained.

As for the IMB, it was sent to then-NSIA Vincent Rigby in May 2021, but when he testified before PROC in June of this year he said he had learned about it “through the newspapers.”

In his May report, then-special rapporteur David Johnston noted the breakdown in communication leading to ministers not being briefed on CSIS’s IMB, but he omitted to mention it had also been sent to the NSIA. Mr. Johnston only said it had been sent to Mr. Blair, his chief of staff, and Mr. Stewart.

After Mr. Johnston resigned in June, under pressure from opposition parties, the Liberal government opened the door to a public inquiry into foreign interference.

Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue, a Quebec Court of Appeal judge who was selected by all major parties, started her work on Sept. 18 and has to file an interim report by February 2024.