Canadians want accountability and answers — and federal party leaders who are fully informed of the unredacted contents of a special parliamentary report on foreign interference in the country’s political affairs.
New survey data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute showed that a solid majority of Canadians — 66 per cent of respondents — feel that all federal leaders should accept the opportunity they have to read the complete version of the parliamentary report on foreign interference, parts of which remain unavailable to the public for national security reasons.
The Special Report on Foreign Interference in Canada’s Democratic Processes and Institutions was released in early June by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP). The redacted report stated that some sitting MPs were “semi-witting or witting” accomplices to the interference in Canadian government by foreign countries.
“The ensuing political firestorm has put pressure on the Trudeau government to name the individuals who, as the report says, were ‘semi-witting or witting’ participants in the efforts of foreign states to interfere in Canadian politics,” the institute stated in releasing its poll results. “It has also put Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre’s decision not to seek the security clearance required to read the report under the microscope.”
‘The ensuing political firestorm has put pressure on the Trudeau government to name the individuals who, as the report says, were ‘semi-witting or witting’ participants in the efforts of foreign states to interfere in Canadian politics. It has also put Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre’s decision not to seek the security clearance required to read the report under the microscope.’
— Angus Reid Institute
None of the names of MPs involved have been released, nor have all federal leaders read the report. In particular, Conservative leader Poilievre has so far refused to read the unredacted version of the report, arguing that doing so would limit his ability to hold the Liberal government to account for its handling of foreign interference in Canada’s political system.
Due to the security clearance required to see the contents of the unredacted report, those who read it are bound to secrecy on what it contains beyond the publicly available version.
Green Party leader Elizabeth May and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh took the necessary steps to read the unredacted report and came to different conclusions about the degree to which sitting MPs are implicated in facilitating interference in Canadian politics by foreign countries such as China.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also read the unredacted report. In a summary accompanying the release of its survey results, the Angus Reid Institute said “some details of the (NSICOP) report remain murky,” and that May, Singh and Trudeau are “offering varying interpretations” of national security issues raised in it.
Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet recently stated that he plans to obtain the security clearance necessary to read the unredacted report prior to the next federal election.
Of the 3,080 Canadians polled in the new Angus Reid poll, 66 per cent said they believe all leaders should read the report. Liberal voters — at a rate of eight out of 10 respondents — were the most likely to believe all leaders should read the report, whereas only 60 per cent of CPC voters who responded to the survey believed the same.
The survey also showed that seven in 10 Canadians polled said the names of MPs who engaged in foreign interference should be released. Eighty-nine per cent of decided CPC voters insisted the names should be released, with Bloc and NDP voters feeling the same at 71 and 60 per cent respectively.
A quarter of the 573 Liberal voters polled were the most likely to believe the names of implicated MPs should not be released.
Despite the fact that most of the Canadians polled said names should be released, those who read the unredacted NSICOP report are required to have top secret security clearance and remain bound to secrecy regarding the unredacted portions of the report – thus surrendering their parliamentary immunity.
The survey also went on to address how closely Canadians are following the issue of foreign interference. One-third of all respondents said they were following the issue closely, and another third said they were keeping up with media coverage and had occasional conversations.
Half of the 1,338 Conservative voters polled responded that they were following the issue closely.
The online survey was conducted from June 14–17 with a “representative randomized sample” of 3,080 Canadian adults who are members of Angus Reid Forum, according to the institute.
“For comparison purposes only, a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of +/- 2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20,” the institute added.
