New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh on Thursday accused unnamed MPs of being “traitors,” based on information in a top secret intelligence report.
That report, released with substantial redactions by a national security committee last week, alleged some lawmakers had secretly worked with foreign governments.
A lack of publicly available details has led to rampant speculation about various MPs.
After gaining clearance and reading the unredacted version Thursday, Singh said he was “more convinced than ever” that some MPs were “semi-witting or witting participants” in foreign interference in Canadian politics.
“There are a number of MPs who have knowingly provided help to foreign governments, some to the detriment of Canada and Canadians,” or who “have benefitted from foreign interference,” he said, without providing details.
“What they’re doing is unethical. It is in some cases against the law. And they are indeed traitors to the country,” he concluded.
His assessment appeared to contradict that of Green Party leader Elizabeth May who commented on Tuesday, after reading the same classified report, that no sitting MPs had knowingly betrayed Canada.
She said that one former MP had allegedly shared privileged information with a foreign intelligence officer during a trip abroad and that a few MPs may also have been “unwitting” participants in foreign interference schemes.
Government officials have declined to say anything at all about the report’s contents.
Last September, Ottawa launched a public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 elections, following intelligence leaks that claimed China and others sought to subvert the nation’s democratic process.
Lawmakers this week voted to ask Justice Marie-Josee Hogue, who is leading the inquiry, to also probe treason claims in the report by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians.
