The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians tabled their redacted report on the prime minister’s India trip yesterday, and, well, there were a number of redactions. But what wasn’t redacted did paint a picture of an RCMP that bungled security arrangements, and that didn’t have good lines of communication with the prime minister’s security detail, and where they left a voicemail for someone who was on vacation, while someone else in Ottawa decided to not bother trying to reach out until the following day because it was the end of their shift. So yeah, there were a “few issues” that the RCMP fell down on. And because of the redactions (done by security agencies and not PMO, for reasons related to national security or because revelations could be injurious to our international relations), we don’t have any idea if the former national security advisor’s warnings about “rogue elements” of the Indian government were involved was true or not.
https://twitter.com/SkinnerLyle/status/1069736311785951234
The CBC, meanwhile, got documents under Access to Information to show what kind of gong show was touched off with the communications side of things as the government tried to manage the fallout of the revelations of Atwal’s appearance on the trip (and in many senses, it wasn’t until the prime minister gave a very self-deprecating speech on the trip at the Press Gallery Dinner that the narratives started to die down). Because remember, this is a government that can’t communicate their way out of a wet paper bag.
In order to get some national security expert reaction, here’s Stephanie Carvin and Craig Forcese:
https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1069747574435995648
https://twitter.com/cforcese/status/1069718997937995776
https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1069708639479451649
https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1069708795134308362
It should also be pointed out that the opposition parties are trying to make some hay over the redactions, and are intimating that they’re the product of PMO for partisan reasons. It’s not supposed to work that way, but hey, why deal in facts when you can proffer conspiracy theories, or in Andrew Scheer’s case, shitposts on Twitter?
1) NSCIOP is an executive committee, not a parliamentary one. It reports to PMO.
2) Security officials did the redaction, not the “Trudeau Liberals.” https://t.co/SsPB9w5t6V— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) December 3, 2018
https://twitter.com/RobynUrback/status/1069786954756173825