So far, ‘deflection,’ no answers on politician collusion allegations: experts

A former RCMP superintendent says the Liberal government is passing the buck by insisting it’s up to Canada’s national police force to decide what to do about parliamentarians accused of helping foreign states.

“This, in my view, is total deflection,” Garry Clement told Mercedes Stephenson in an interview with The West Block. “The laws are not there right now.”

Last Monday, a report from the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) alleged that sitting federal politicians are “witting” participants in foreign interference schemes.

The committee did not name names, and the Liberal government is resisting calls to release their identities, citing concerns about sharing sensitive intelligence information.

On Thursday, opposition MPs at a House of Commons committee pressed Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc to name names, but he refused, saying it would be “simply irresponsible.”

LeBlanc said the RCMP will decide whether to investigate and lay charges, adding that is the process in a rule-of-law democracy.

Clement, who spent 30 years with the RCMP, says the legislation is not in place to bring ‘witting’ collaborators to justice.

“We need our politicians, at least somebody there to show some leadership and not put their head in the sand as they are today and say, ‘Well, see, RCMP has (the) responsibility and we’ll continue as we have always.'”

The NSICOP report drew a similar conclusion about the difficulty of prosecuting parliamentarians suspected of colluding with foreign states.

“Some (of the activities) may be illegal, but are unlikely to lead to criminal charges, owing to Canada’s failure to address the long-standing issue of protecting classified information and methods in judicial