A foreign interference report lobbed bombshells at Parliament. Now what?

If nothing else, this week's report from the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians offers an firm response to opposition politicians who have dismissed the relatively new body's ability to do valuable work.

When the Liberal government suggested that NSICOP should investigate the allegations of foreign interference contained in a series of media leaks last year, critics were thoroughly unimpressed. But the committee of MPs and senators has now delivered a highly critical report that scrutinizes the government's response to foreign interference — and also levels new allegations against parliamentarians.

It might be fair to ask whether NSICOP went too far in its reporting. Regardless, the special committee has sent the issue back to Parliament. And now the question is what, if anything, the federal government, law enforcement and parliamentarians themselves are going to do about the claims NSICOP has put on the public record.

Over 94 pages, the national security committee report walks readers through the threats posed by meddlesome foreign states, pokes at shortcomings in the government's response and recommends a number of legislative and governance changes that would put Canadian institutions in a better position to respond.

But the report also makes a series of claims about unnamed parliamentarians.

At paragraph 164, the committee says it has «seen troubling intelligence that some Parliamentarians are, in the words of the intelligence services, 'semi-witting or witting' in the efforts of foreign states to interfere in our politics.» (Emphasis theirs.)

This participation allegedly includes: parliamentarians communicating frequently with foreign missions before or during a political campaign to obtain