EDITORIAL: PM's his own expert on foreign interference

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apparently considers himself to be Canada’s foremost expert on foreign interference, given that he keeps dissing the findings of his own experts.

This time, it’s the findings of the all-party National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) that Trudeau himself created in 2017 to advise him on security matters.

Speaking from Italy on Saturday, Trudeau echoed earlier criticism by Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc after the latest NSICOP report concluded some parliamentarians had, wittingly, unwittingly or through willful blindness, colluded with foreign powers against Canada’s interests.

“We made clear some of the concerns we have with the way NSICOP drew their conclusions,” Trudeau said.

This is a bizarre statement by Trudeau on the findings of his own committee, which has now advised him in three reports since 2018 about the seriousness of Canada’s foreign interference crisis.

Last year, in the wake of NSICOP criticizing Trudeau for not even responding to the findings and recommendations on foreign interference in its second report in 2019, the PM said, “We have to do a better job on following up on those recommendations. I fully accept that.”

That was when he tasked NSICOP to report on foreign interference yet again, for a third time, which delivered its unredacted report to Trudeau in March, three months before a redacted version was made available to the public in June.

Now Trudeau is criticizing its findings similar to how he criticized Canada’s intelligence officials during his testimony before the foreign interference inquiry, arguing they don’t understand how political parties nominate candidates, which may lead them to incorrect conclusions.

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We have to ask, who are Trudeau’s anonymous intelligence and security advisers who apparently keep telling him the findings and recommendations he’s getting from NSICOP and Canada’s security and intelligence community are flawed?

By contrast, NSICOP makes crystal clear in its latest report that in its view, the Trudeau government’s “slow response to a known threat was a serious failure and one from which Canada may feel the consequences for years to come.

“The implications of this inaction include the undermining of the democratic rights and fundamental freedoms of Canadians, the integrity and credibility of Canada’s parliamentary process, and public trust in the policy decisions made by the government.”