B.C. municipal politicians are under control of foreign governments: CSIS
CSIS bombshell may distract Canadians from summit security tab: expert
Cabinet ministers in two provinces are under the control of foreign governments, says Richard Fadden, head of CSIS.
Photograph by: Chris Mikula / Canwest News Service files, CNS
Richard Fadden, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, told the CBC on Tuesday that cabinet ministers in two provinces, which he did not name, and British Columbia municipal politicians are under control of foreign governments.
“What on Earth is the CSIS director doing making this public? Why is he coming forward with this information?” Wesley Wark, a history professor from the University of Toronto, asked Tuesday.
Wark questioned the timing of Fadden’s announcement, just a few days before Canada hosts the G8 and G20 summits, set for the weekend in Huntsville, Ont., and Toronto.
“I think having aired the allegation CSIS (officials’) feet are going to be held to the fire to explain exactly what they mean and why they chose to make this allegation public — particularly in the context of the timing of it on the eve of the G8 and G20 when there has been a lot of concerns about the security budget,” Wark said in a Tuesday interview with Canwest News Service.
“Is this an effort to steer Canadians’ attention away from the more pressing security issues?”
The federal government has faced harsh criticism over the $1-billion security budget for the two meetings.
Fadden also told CBC that the politicians haven’t hidden their ties to foreign governments, and recently they’ve been shifting their policy decisions to reflect those relationships.
He added that he has discussed with Canada’s privy council how best to tell those provincial governments that they may have been comprised.
There is no evidence that any federal politicians have been infiltrated, Fadden said.
“A number of countries take the view that if they can develop influence with people relatively early in their careers they’ll follow them through. Before you know it, a country’s providing them with money, some sort of covert guidance,” Fadden said in his interview with CBC.
At least five countries, including China and Middle Eastern countries, are recruiting political prospects in universities, said CBC.
Wark said Canada does not have a history of foreign infiltration.
“The truth is that really in the whole history of Canada from the Cold War and beyond — even though there was a consistent RCMP concern about agents of influence — we never really found any,” he said.
“It would be very surprising if suddenly we were to find them in our midst in the post-9/11 world.”
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