Commons committee to call CSIS director to testify

OTTAWA – CSIS director Richard Fadden will be called before a House of Commons committee to explain his public assertions that two provincial cabinet ministers and municipal politicians in British Columbia are under the influence of foreign governments.

The opposition members of the public safety and national security committee joined forces Friday in a move to force the top spy to appear to publicly explain himself.

"He’s compelled to come and I’m hoping he’ll want to come," said Mark Holland, Liberal public safety critic and committee co-chairman.

Holland said opposition members want to zero in on whether Fadden is a "rogue" spy who was acting on his own when he levelled his public allegations, or whether he had shared his concerns with the Prime Minister’s Office.

Fadden has faced an angry backlash from at least three provincial premiers and members of the Chinese-Canadian community since he told CBC-TV this week that high-level provincial politicians are putting Canada in a vulnerable position because they are agents of influence for a foreign government.

He did not name the politicians nor the governments involved, but there is wide speculation that it is China, based on past confirmations from CSIS that the emerging superpower tops the list of foreign spying in Canada.

Fadden added that CSIS was in discussions with the Privy Council Office – the bureaucratic arm of the Prime Minister’s Office – on how to inform the implicated provinces that they may have been compromised.

A day later, he backed away from his allegations, saying in a statement that the cases were not of "sufficient concern" to inform the provinces and that he had not raised the matter with the Privy Council Office.

"One day we have him saying there is credible evidence to show there are two cabinet ministers under the influence of a foreign government and that he talked to the Privy Council Office, and the next day . . . it’s not so credible and he never talked to the Privy Council Office," said Holland.

"Either he did have that conversation and does have these concerns and the Prime Minister’s Office is ignoring him or worse, is trying to bury this. Or alternatively, he has gone completely rogue, and is casting aspersions without basis on national television."

The Prime Minister’s Office has said in a statement that it has no idea what Fadden was talking about.

The opposition parties agreed Friday to sign a letter calling for the public safety committee to reconvene to question Fadden.

The letter is expected to be delivered Monday to the committee clerk, who must then notify Conservative committee chairman Garry Breitkreuz, who must call a meeting within five days. The committee will then decide when Fadden will be called to testify, said Holland.

Conservative committee member Dave MacKenzie accused the Liberals of "trying to light a fire when there’s nothing to light" by seeking to implicate the Prime Minister’s Office.

"It’s one of their witch hunts like they do on all the committees right now," he said.

If Fadden declines the invitation, the committee has the power to subpoena him. CSIS would not comment on whether Fadden will attend.

"Should Director Fadden receive an invitation to appear before the committee, he will convey his response directly to the committee," said media spokeswoman Isabelle Scott.

The Bloc Quebecois on Friday called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to seek Fadden’s resignation.

"The remarks of Richard Fadden do not fall within the normal framework of CSIS," said Maria Mourani, Bloc public safety critic.

"What’s worse is they have created doubts on the integrity of a number of elected officials and have created an unhealthy climate of suspicion and general paranoia, particularly toward elected officials who are of foreign origin. Who are the traitors among them?"

Don Davies, the NDP public safety critic and committee co-chairman, said the opposition members hope to start with Fadden, but they could also call other possible witnesses, including Public Safety Minister Vic Toews "and maybe even Prime Minister Harper."

Fadden, a career civil servant who assumed the CSIS directorship a year ago, also told CBC the politicians in question haven’t hidden their ties to foreign governments, and that recently they’ve been shifting their policy decisions to reflect those relationships.