Blair says top-secret memos meant for him never reached his desk

Former Public Safety minister Bill Blair says he never received several top-secret documents destined for his desk — including a Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) issues management note about China's attempts to target two Canadian members of Parliament.

Testifying before the inquiry into foreign interference Friday, Blair also maintained that he never knew about a warrant application for an investigation into foreign interference until he signed it — 54 days after CSIS had first requested it.

"I can't approve something I don't know anything about," Blair told the inquiry. "So when it was brought to my attention, it was always my practice — and it was more than practice, it was every case — dealt with very promptly."

Blair said he had been briefed on the investigation that led to the warrant application several months earlier, so when he was presented with the warrant it did not come as a surprise.

While the name of the person targeted by the warrant has not been mentioned during the inquiry's public hearings, former Ontario MPP Michael Chan issued a statement earlier this week identifying himself as the target of the warrant.

Chan said CSIS obtained the warrant alleging that he had engineered the removal of former Liberal MP Geng Tan as the party's candidate in the Toronto area riding of Don Valley North. He said that CSIS has found no evidence of him doing anything improper, despite 14 years of surveilling him.

The fact the warrant targeted a Canadian politician — and included a list of third parties whose communications with him might be intercepted — has led to speculation that someone in government slow-walked the warrant to protect Liberal Party members.

Blair's former chief of staff, Zita Astravas, told the inquiry earlier in the week that she was briefed on the warrant 13 days after CSIS sent it to Public Safety and received another briefing on the list of third parties, also known as a Vanweenan list. She said she could not explain the delay in getting the warrant to Blair between the day she was briefed and the day he signed the warrant.

Testifying before the inquiry Friday, Blair repeatedly refused to answer questions about whose names appeared on the list of third parties. He also refused to say whether the list contained names of parliamentarians, cabinet ministers or people he knew.

Blair, a former police officer, insisted political considerations did not affect how he handled the warrant and he had no conflicts of interest in any of the warrant authorizations he signed as Public Safety minister.

Blair said CSIS, his chief of staff and his deputy minister did not raise any concerns about the delay in signing the warrant and there was never any question of him not signing the authorization for the warrant.

While former deputy minister of Public Safety Rob Stewart told the inquiry that briefing binders for Blair continued during the pandemic and were sent to his office, Blair testified that he never received those binders and received very few documents.

He said he only learned that Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family had been the targets of foreign interference by China when he read it in a news report — two years after CSIS prepared a memo for him in 2021 regarding proposed defensive briefings for Chong and Conservative MP Kenny Chui. Blair has said he never received that memo.

More later ...