Mr. Blanchet, however, said he was “absolutely confident” that no MP from his party was involved in a case of foreign interference.
The parliament of a G7 country cannot afford to have MPs under the influence of hostile foreign powers, he told reporters on Tuesday.
Mr. Blanchet is taking steps to obtain the security clearance necessary to read the full version of a classified report from the Committee of Parliamentarians on National Security and Intelligence.
The watchdog, made up of MPs and senators, said in a public report this month that some parliamentarians participate “half-willingly or deliberately” in efforts by foreign states to interfere in Canadian politics.
Yves-François Blanchet affirms that after having examined the report, he will take care of managing the situation for any Bloc MP who has been involved in a case of foreign interference and he invites the other federal party leaders to do the same . “The only reason I do the exercise is to make sure of something that I am absolutely confident of, that there is no case [d’ingérence] in my caucus.”
Mr. Blanchet adds that he will not follow the lead of New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May and will not speak publicly after seeing the unredacted report from the agency. monitoring.
The Bloc leader said he would let a commission of inquiry choose whether the names of the MPs involved in the interference will be disclosed. The commission, now underway, is tasked with examining specific allegations in the monitoring report.
May and Singh speak on the report
May said last week she was relieved that the full report did not contain a “list of MPs who have demonstrated disloyalty to Canada.”
She said an unnamed former lawmaker accused in the report of proactively sharing privileged information with a foreign agent should be fully investigated by authorities.
She was also quick to add that the few people named in the unredacted report “could be compromised” because they were “beneficiaries of foreign governments intervening in nomination contests.”
Days later, Jagmeet Singh claimed that after seeing the full report, he was “more convinced than ever” of the watchdog’s public findings.
“In short, a number of MPs have knowingly aided foreign governments, some to the detriment of Canada and Canadians,” he said.
“There are also politicians at all levels of government who have benefited from foreign interference. Some of this behavior appears absolutely criminal and should be prosecuted.”
New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh (PATRICK DOYLE/Canadian Press Archives)
Mr Singh, like Ms May, did not suggest that any sitting MP was concerned.
The New Democrat previously said he would remove from his caucus any MPs chosen for knowingly participating in a case of foreign interference. After reading the report, he finally made it clear that he would not take such action.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked Monday about Mr. Singh’s comments during a CBC interview. After a pause, he replied that he “didn’t know that Jagmeet [Singh] said that.”
“I would be suspicious of any party leader who would draw such a conclusion,” said Mr. Trudeau.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
Jagmeet Singh’s office said in a statement Tuesday that if Justin Trudeau has information that anyone in the NDP caucus “is knowingly working with a foreign government against Canadian interests, he can inform Jagmeet… None information of this type was not provided to us.
Ms. May and Mr. Singh carefully worded their recent public statements regarding the classified report to avoid breaching confidentiality.
However, Yves-François Blanchet disputed that they revealed anything about the contents of a highly classified document.
He suggested Tuesday that the lack of discretion surrounding the report made him reluctant to agree to a meeting with other party leaders to discuss how to respond to foreign interference.
