The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians was created by the Liberal government to investigate the interference of foreign actors in Canadian elections. Now they have made their report, and the implications are troubling.
The composition of the committee is similar to the balance in Parliament; the Liberals have more members including the chairman, but cannot outvote the rest without the help of a Bloc or NDP member. This balanced representation gives the committee’s findings credibility; there will be no political whitewashing.
The Problem
Because of national security concerns and the “innocent until proven guilty” aspect of democratic law, the full results of this report cannot be released to the public. Only people with proper security clearance can see it. But that doesn’t stop the politicians from playing their usual games.
Nor does it stop the media from speculating. So here goes…
Who Said What?
The clearest results came from Green Party’s Elizabeth May, who spoke clearly as she always does. She reassures us that no sitting Member of Parliament has been accused. She specifically did not excuse former MPs or members of the Senate.
Jagmeet Singh was very enthusiastic about revealing the offenders and punishing them.
Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet is getting clearance so he can read it.
Pierre Poilievre is refusing to read it, because once he has, he will be bound to silence on it. Even so, despite his present lack of restriction, he has been notably reticent.
Justin Trudeau has known about it since March and has been sitting on it.
What Does This Mean?
May knows that the Green Party won’t be touched. She is free to speak out.
Singh must know that there are no NDP members involved, or he wouldn’t dare be so self-righteous.
Blanchet probably knows there are no Quebecois members involved.
Poilievre must know that some Conservatives are involved. Also, staying out of it fits perfectly with his standard “attack without substance” oratory.
Trudeau knows there are Liberals involved. He, too, is running true to form. He waffles and passes the buck and moves the issue to the back burner until some new issue attracts the media for the next fifteen minutes.
The Effects?
When the main parties are floundering, the smaller parties can’t help but profit.
Nothing can cure Poilievre, and as long as the Liberals are dragged down with him, he won’t lose too much.
Trudeau continues to make the same mistake. The downside to his do-nothing technique is that while these problems seem to go away, he spends a little bit of his political capital on each one. Six or eight years of frittering away his popular appeal without producing enough results to gain more credit won’t help come election time. If Trudeau would come out like May and make a decision to solve the problem, he could end up a winner. He won’t.
The Bottom Line
This is one point where the politicians are better to stay out of it. Treason is a legal matter, and all the hot air in the world won’t affect the legal outcome. Turn it over to the RCMP.