Petition calls for federal party leaders to get top-secret security clearance

Chairs and desks sit empty in the Chamber of the House of Commons, in Ottawa on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA — An electronic petition on the parliament website calls on the House of Commons to require all federal party leaders to obtain and maintain top-secret security clearance.

It says the reason is to ensure leaders are “fully informed of threats to Canada’s national security” and “act decisively to protect Canadians and our democracy.”

The petition notes Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre refuses to seek top-secret security clearance, which it says “exposes Canada to avoidable national security risks.”

Poilievre has long refused to obtain a security clearance, arguing he wouldn’t be able to speak freely or criticize the government based on secret information.

The e-petition lists Marc Hachey from Manotick, Ont., as its initiator, with Liberal MP Bruce Fanjoy from Ontario authorizing it.

The e-petition remains open for signatures until April 7.

“Canada faces increasing national security risks in a complex and shifting geopolitical landscape, and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) warns that political parties, elected officials, and candidates are potential targets for foreign interference,” the petition states.

“In this context, it is in Canada’s national interest for every federal party leader to hold top-secret security clearance.”

Federal officials recommended in 2024 to then-prime minister Justin Trudeau that leaders of major opposition parties receive regular classified briefings on foreign interference and broader issues, including violent extremism and overseas conflicts.

Party leaders who accepted the offer of briefings would need to go through a top-secret-level security clearance process.

Poilievre has said obtaining the clearance would amount to a “gag order,” forbidding him from speaking publicly about what he hears in classified briefings.

When the memo was released last year, Conservative spokesman Sam Lilly said the government already has the ability to notify a leader of any issue that is particularly relevant to them and their party.

In 2023, then-NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Leader Elizabeth May underwent the process of obtaining top-secret clearances so they could read the classified annex to a report by a special rapporteur on foreign interference. Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet subsequently obtained his security clearance.