Skip to main content

O'Toole's boycott leaves security panel of parliamentarians with no Conservative MPs

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole speaks during a news conference in Ottawa on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole speaks during a news conference in Ottawa on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Share
OTTAWA -

There are no Conservative MPs among the newly named slate of parliamentarians to oversee the security and intelligence community following the party's decision to boycott the body.

Liberal MPs Patricia Lattanzio and James Maloney are joining the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, known as NSICOP, while Liberals Brenda Shanahan and Peter Fragiskatos -- as well as Conservatives Leona Alleslev and Rob Morrison -- have left.

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole pulled his party's MPs from the committee last spring to protest the Liberal government's refusal to hand over unredacted documents related to the firing of two scientists from Canada's highest-security laboratory.

In a Dec. 17 letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, O'Toole said the Conservative boycott of the all-party committee would continue in the new session of Parliament until the wraps are taken off those documents.

Opposition parties banded together last spring to order the Public Health Agency of Canada to hand over the documents to the now-defunct special committee on Canada-China relations.

The Liberal government gave them to NSICOP instead, arguing that it was the more appropriate body to review sensitive material that could jeopardize national security.

That committee, created in 2017 specifically to review sensitive matters, submits classified reports to the prime minister, which are later tabled in Parliament in edited form. Its members must have top security clearance and are bound to secrecy.

House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota ruled last year that NSICOP is not a committee of Parliament and, therefore, not an acceptable alternative to having a Commons committee examine the documents concerning the fired scientists.

In his December letter, O'Toole said NSICOP "has become a committee of the Prime Minister's Office" and has been used by Trudeau's government "to avoid accountability and that is diminishing its credibility."

He said changes are required to the legislation creating the committee to establish it as a standing Commons committee that reports to Parliament, not the prime minister.

The Prime Minister's Office said Thursday that all recognized party leaders in the House of Commons and all leaders and facilitators in the Senate were consulted ahead of the latest appointments to NSICOP. It added that O'Toole "chose not to recommend the participation of any Conservative members of Parliament."

The two newcomers to the committee join Liberal MP David McGuinty, who is the chairman, Liberal MP Iqra Khalid, New Democrat MP Don Davies, Bloc Quebecois MP Stephane Bergeron, and senators Vern White, Frances Lankin and Dennis Dawson.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2022

Correction

This is a corrected story. A previous version may have left the impression there are now more Liberal MPs on the committee. In fact, the party is represented by the same number of members as previously.

IN DEPTH

Who is supporting, opposing new online harms bill?

Now that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's sweeping online harms legislation is before Parliament, allowing key stakeholders, major platforms, and Canadians with direct personal experience with abuse to dig in and see what's being proposed, reaction is streaming in. CTVNews.ca has rounded up reaction, and here's how Bill C-63 is going over.

Opinion

opinion

opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike

When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.

opinion

opinion Don Martin: ArriveCan debacle may be even worse than we know from auditor's report

It's been 22 years since a former auditor general blasted the Chretien government after it 'broke just about every rule in the book' in handing out private sector contracts in the sponsorship scandal. In his column for CTVNews.ca, Don Martin says the book has been broken anew with everything that went on behind the scenes of the 'dreaded' ArriveCan app.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Local Spotlight

N.B. man wins $64 million from Lotto 6/49

A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.

Record-setting pop tab collection for Ontario boy

It started small with a little pop tab collection to simply raise some money for charity and help someone — but it didn’t take long for word to get out that 10-year-old Jace Weber from Mildmay, Ont. was quickly building up a large supply of aluminum pop tabs.

Stay Connected