NSICOP Report On Foreign Interference: Not Good For The Liberals Or Conservatives.

You all know the usual suspects: China, India and Russia who reportedly interfered in party nomination contests and elections at the federal and provincial levels. The NSICOP report differentiates between those who willingly aided a foreign government and others who didn't prevent information that benefitted a foreign power from flowing to that government.

At a political level, Joly says there are no traitors in the Liberal caucus while Singh, who has read the unredacted report, says the opposite. Singh has confirmed that no current NDP MPs are on the list. The Liberals refuse to name names, and that's not exactly comforting. It suggests that the Liberals have something to hide, or they've concluded that what could be released publicly would be incredibly damaging to their re-election prospects. In short, finish them off politically. So, it's in their interest to stonewall and refuse to give way.

As for the Conservatives, they've adopted an ostrich mentality: what the leader doesn't know can't hurt us. Poilièvre has refused to get the security clearance to read the unredacted report. As rumoured, it suggests more CPC than LPC MPs are involved and that our leader isn't prepared to discipline them. 

This is the worst decision Pierre has made since becoming leader. Truman, he ain't. The buck needs to stop in his office, and it's irresponsible not to be aware of the report's content regarding Conservative MPs. Picture it: we form a government and the leader chooses a cabinet. Some people are only partially vetted -- their names could be in the NSICOP report, and yet they're named to cabinet? Not a good national security look. Poilièvre should rethink this. It's his job to make the tough decisions, especially those that may not be in his party's interests. A deliberate abdication of responsibility won't serve us well in the medium to long term.

So, it's fortunate that Justice Hogue's mandate has been enlarged and given that both the Canadian and foreign governments know the names, Hogue should publicly name them in her report. Then voters can draw their own conclusions and deal with them accordingly.