A majority of Canadians want the Trudeau government to release the names of MPs who had allegedly wittingly collaborated to interfere in Canada’s democracy on behalf of foreign nations.
A bombshell report by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians found that some unidentified Parliamentarians, past and present, had been collaborating with foreign governments wittingly or semi-wittingly. Much of the relevant portion of the report has been made classified by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Only a handful of MPs and party leaders have read the largely unredacted version of the report and are unable to publicly release details, lest they face potential prosecution for divulging confidential information.
A poll from Angus Reid found that 69% of Canadians believed that the government should release the list of MPs who are under suspicion of working with foreign actors, with only 12% of Canadians believing the government should not release the names.
Canadians of all party stripes generally agree that the names of the suspected MPs and senators should be made public.
Conservative voters were the most supportive of releasing the names of parliamentarians in the NSICOP report, with 89% of Conservatives wanting to see the names compared to only 5% who didn’t.
The great majority of Bloc Québécois and NDP voters also agree with this sentiment, as 71% and 60% respectively are in support of releasing the names of suspected MPs, with only scant opposition within each party.
Among the other parties, Liberal voters are the most divided on this issue, as 51% of them want the Parliamentarians’ names released, while 27% do not and 22% remain unsure.
While a large chunk of Liberals support the Trudeau government releasing the names of MPs and senators who are under suspicion of collaborating with foreign actors, the prime minister has prevented this from happening.
In the House of Commons, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc argued that his government is doing what is necessary to protect Canadians, and that it would be irresponsible for the government to release details of an intelligence investigation.
“No government…is going to discuss the particularities of intelligence information publicly,” said LeBlanc.
At this year’s G7 conference in Italy, Prime Minister Trudeau refused to answer whether or not any Liberal MPs were named in the NSICOP report and instead suggested that the committee had jumped to conclusions.
However, many Canadians feel like Trudeau is not taking the issue of foreign interference seriously enough, with the same poll showing that 66% of Canadians want the prime minister to take it more seriously.
Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre criticized the Trudeau government for not releasing the list of parliamentarians named in the NSICOP report, saying the Canadians have a right to know which MPs have collaborated with foreign actors.
On the other hand, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh criticized the government for being aware of foreign interference and taking no action to clamp down on it.
