Conservative leader calls on Liberal government to release names of MPs accused of helping foreign states

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says that Canadians have a right to know the names of the MPs accused in an explosive new intelligence report of "wittingly" working on behalf of foreign state actors.

On Monday, the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), a cross-party committee of MPs and senators with top security clearances, released a heavily redacted document alleging some parliamentarians have actively helped foreign governments like China and India meddle in Canadian politics. 

"The national security committee indicates there are members of this House who have knowingly worked for foreign hostile governments. Canadians have a right to know who and what is the information," Poilievre said during question period Wednesday. "Who are they?"

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, whose portfolio includes both the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the RCMP, said in response that it would be inappropriate to release the names of MPs under suspicion. 

"The leader of the opposition knows very well no government, including the government [of] which he was a member, is going to discuss particularities of intelligence information publicly. So he knows better than that," he said.

He did suggest that Poilievre go through the process of obtaining a security clearance so he can review the confidential information cited in the report.

"He would be much more informed than he is now and we would invite him to do so, so he wouldn't stand up and cast aspersions on the floor of the House of Commons without any information whatsoever," LeBlanc said.

LeBlanc has cast some doubt already on some of the report's findings, and has suggested it left out important context.

"The government's concerns centre around the interpretation of intelligence reports, which lacked the necessary caveats inherent to intelligence, as well as the lack of acknowledgement of the full breadth of outreach that has been done with respect to informing parliamentarians about the threat posed by foreign interference," he said the day the report was released. 

The NSICOP report has sparked a fierce debate about the soundness of its intelligence and whether voters have a right to know whether their MP has been accused of working for another state.

Facing a barrage of questions Wednesday morning before a Liberal caucus meeting, NSICOP chair David McGuinty repeatedly told reporters that he and other members of the committee have taken an oath of secrecy and can't divulge the names or any material behind the report's redactions.

"Look, the committee's hands are tied. We can only release what we release," he said.

"The members have always wanted to be more transparent, rather than less. We have gone as far as we can in this review to reveal information without being in breach of the Security of Information Act."

McGuinty said it's up to the RCMP to decide what happens next.