Ex-Conservative senator says committee probe of foreign interference would be 'quicker ... cheaper'
CBC
Vern White, a former member of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), didn't mince words when describing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's characterization of the oversight group.
At the start of the week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he had asked NSICOP to review foreign interference in Canada's elections.
Poilievre accused him of covering up the issue "with a secret process that he controls." Michael Chong, the Conservative critic for foreign affairs, described NSICOP's work as "secret hearings, secret evidence and secret conclusions, all controlled by the prime minister."
"Obviously, that's BS," White, a former Conservative senator, told CBC's The House.
"Our work was done unfettered, totally unfettered."
NSICOP is a bipartisan assembly of MPs and senators who are sworn to secrecy in order to receive top-secret briefings.
Their classified reports are sent to the prime minister before a redacted version is made public.
"And then there are strict rules on the things that need to be redacted. Read the legislation. It's very clear," said White.
"It's too bad politics is becoming the player here."
According to NSICOP's legislation, if publicly disclosing certain information would be "injurious to national security, national defence or international relations," or if information is "protected by litigation privilege or by solicitor-client privilege or the professional secrecy of advocates and notaries," the prime minister can direct the committee to redact it from the public versions of its reports.
Then-prime minister Stephen Harper appointed White to the Senate in 2012 as a Conservative representing Ontario. White had been sitting with the non-partisan Canadian Senators Group since 2019 when he retired late last year to move to Finland.
When Trudeau announced the NSICOP review Monday, he also said he'd soon appoint a special rapporteur on foreign interference. The announcements landed in the middle of a heated debate on Parliament Hill about whether a public inquiry should be held to investigate claims of Chinese meddling in elections — and what the Liberals knew about it.
Poilievre has become one of the most vocal proponents of a public inquiry.
"We want [an] open and independent ... public inquiry to get to the truth and make sure it never happens again," he told reporters Tuesday.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.