Ignatieff calls for CSIS boss to resign

Richard Fadden should not be fired as he head of CSIS. That’s not my opinion; it was until Thursday the opinion of the Liberal Party of Canada.

After MPs grilled the spymaster over his comments about foreign influence on July 5th, Marcel Proulx, the man that led Team Liberal at the hearings said Fadden’s remarks were not a firing offence. That view has changed in Liberal land and it is the reason for change that stinks.

No senior Liberal, no Liberal on committee and no Liberal critic on the CSIS file asked for Fadden’s resignation until Michael Ignatieff did on Thursday at the Chinese Cultural Centre in the east end of Toronto.

During his now infamous CBC interview Fadden said that several countries have gained or are attempting to gain influence with Canadian politicians. Asked which countries were involved, the CSIS boss would not answer but did respond to Peter Mansbridge’s prompt about China being one of the countries by saying that media reports of Chinese espionage are generally accurate.

That is apparently his crime, he stated what everyone knows to be true, that China seeks to influence politics in Canada and he did it on the eve of the Chinese president’s visit. Michael Ignatieff has not called for Fadden to be fired because he told lies; he’s calling for Fadden to be fired because he may have embarrassed a foreign leader that has spies in Canada and agents trying to influence Canadian politicians.

As David Akin recently pointed out, Ignatieff has gone from tough talk on human rights in China to serving up diplomatic pablum Now we can also see that he’s putting ethno-politics ahead of what once would have been his ability to call a spade a spade.

Most of the calls for Fadden’s resignation, or firing, have been based on the idea that he insulted ethnic communities in Canada, that he smeared immigrants, that his comments were racist. Ignatieff has decided to ignore reality and join this camp in the hope of a few more votes in Toronto’s Chinese communities.

Not a single security expert that I have spoken to on or off the record has contradicted Fadden. I have asked politicians if they reject the substance of Fadden’s remarks, none will.

The latest revelations about Fadden, that he may have blown the cover of a French agent, could seal his fate. Some senior people in the Conservative government are not impressed by what has happened over the past month and may use this to push the CSIS boss out. If they do, Canada will lose one of its most talented civil servants, a man who was not afraid to tell the country the truth.

Related:

Salute, don’t fire CSIS boss Richard Fadden: Worthington

Tags: CSIS