Trudeau promised opposition parties fresh facts on foreign meddling — did he deliver?

Months after the Liberal government offered opposition leaders the opportunity to view classified intelligence related to former special rapporteur David Johnston’s report on alleged China-backed meddling in Canadian politics, a dispute is brewing over what was promised — and what was actually delivered.

Green Party Co-Leader Elizabeth May expressed frustration last week with the level of information provided to her in the classified documents and said she was requesting access to additional materials.

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Friday the information May saw was what she and other opposition leaders were promised.

Before resigning from his role as special rapporteur, Johnston published an initial report that, in part, addressed media allegations about Beijing-backed meddling in Canadian elections and Canadian politics.

“When viewed in full context with all of the relevant intelligence, several leaked materials that raised legitimate questions turn out to have been misconstrued in some media reports, presumably because of the lack of this context,” Johnston wrote.

Johnston’s report detailed the major allegations put forth in media reports published by Global News and The Globe and Mail and offered his conclusions on each allegation based on his review of the intelligence.

In his executive summary, Johnston said he had compiled a “confidential annex” to his report “that addresses the major media allegations in detail and includes citations to the intelligence documents and other products that led me to my conclusions.”

“The purpose of this confidential annex is to permit individuals holding appropriate Top Secret security clearance to review my conclusions and judge whether they are warranted based on the full information contained in the annex,” he added.

Trudeau’s offer to opposition leaders

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau welcomed Johnston’s report and told a press conference that “letters have been sent to opposition leaders offering security clearances so that they may receive the relevant intelligence.”

The offer to opposition leaders to receive “relevant intelligence” was repeated in a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, which went on to say that “these additional steps will serve to give Canadians further confidence in this report’s findings.”

The letters sent to opposition leaders make it clear that the “relevant intelligence” on offer was Johnston’s confidential annex.

“The ISR (Independent Special Rapporteur) has also produced a confidential annex to this first report, containing additional details; that annex is available to those individuals with the proper security clearances based on the ‘need to know’ principle,” Trudeau wrote in a letter addressed to May.

“As such, I am writing you and other party leaders to launch the requisite security clearance process, should you chose.”

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet both refused to review the documents, arguing the top secret security clearance would prevent them from speaking about the allegations publicly.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Party Co-Leader Elizabeth May opted to receive the security clearance.

Singh has yet to review the top secret documents. May did so last week and expressed frustration with the information made available to her.

May’s complaint

“I can’t conclude that David Johnston’s conclusions were reasonable, nor can I conclude they are unreasonable,” said May, adding that she was not allowed to review the documents Johnston cited to support the findings in his 20-page confidential annex.

“A document that is laboriously referenced but unavailable does not help me do what David Johnston said we’d be able to do, which was to see how he formed his conclusions and add whether we agree or disagree that his conclusions were reasonable.”

May told reporters she had asked the Privy Council Office (PCO) whether she could review the documents cited by Johnston and was waiting for a response.

CBC News asked the PCO last Friday whether the additional documents would be made available to May. The PCO punted that question to LeBlanc’s office on Monday.

Review of additional documents ‘a different decision’

LeBlanc told reporters Tuesday that the government delivered on its offer and the question of whether opposition leaders will be cleared to review additional classified documents will be answered by security officials, with support from the PCO.

“Our offer, suggested by Mr. Johnston in the spring, was to show them the confidential or top secret annex,” LeBlanc told reporters in Charlottetown.

“To then go behind and look at all of the documents that Mr. Johnston and his experts in their review used to come up with the top secret annex is a different decision.”

LeBlanc said the government has taken note of May’s concerns and he will raise it with security officials in the PCO to “figure out the best way forward.”