Alberta Premier Wants CSIS Allowed to Debrief Provinces Amid Interference Concerns

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says federal laws should be changed so the nation’s intelligence agency can share with the provinces important information about foreign interference.

International political meddling in Canada has received increased attention in the past two years with intelligence leaks in media about rampant attempts by Beijing to interfere in Canada’s elections and other affairs. Under pressure from opposition parties, the federal government has set up a commission to investigate. Intelligence documents tabled at the commission have said China is the most active foreign regime engaged in interference in Canada.

During an unrelated news conference on April 22, Premier Smith told reporters that in a recent meeting with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), she asked if the agency could inform her of intelligence on her province being a target of interference.

“I asked CSIS if we were a target or they discovered anything, whether they would let us know, and the answer was ‘no,’ which I find quite surprising,” Ms. Smith said.

“We think that to maintain the integrity of our electoral processes that CSIS should be able to debrief us so that we would be able to make people aware of the level of interference and be able to address it.”

Under current legislation, while CSIS regularly briefs the federal government on various intelligence and security findings, it’s not allowed to do the same with the provinces or municipalities except in limited situations, the agency has said. CSIS last year proposed a series of changes as part of a consultation paper, including having the ability to share intelligence with other levels of government.r ever used.
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Alberta Premier Wants CSIS Allowed to Debrief Provinces Amid Interference Concerns: https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/alberta-premier-wants-csis-allowed-to-debrief-provinces-amid-interference-concerns-5637828?utm_source=ref_share&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ref_share_btn