Former Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino while testifying Thursday at the China Inquiry complained a damning report by a Liberal-dominated committee could turn parliament into a “kangaroo court.”Parliament must “clear the air” over allegations of foreign spies on Parliament Hill, Mendicino told the Commission on Foreign Interference, per Blacklock’s Reporter.The Special Report published June 3 by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) said “a few parliamentarians” were in the pay of foreign embassies. None were identified. .Safety minister refuses to name Parliament Hill spies before election.Suspects included legislators who spied on colleagues, acted at the “direction of foreign officials” and leaked to a foreign agent “information learned in confidence from the government,” said the Special Report. The 11-member Committee that wrote the document has a majority of seven Liberal MPs and Liberal-appointed senators.“I am very worried the entire conversation around foreign interference and parliamentarians is being transformed into a kangaroo court with very little regard for the process of understanding how we assess intelligence,” said Mendicino.“Have you read the classified or unclassified version of the Committee report?” asked Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue.“Just the public version,” replied Mendicino.“I have not been given access to the classified version.” .Organized spying scandal exposed on Parliament Hill.Mendicino described the report as an outlier compared to security memos he’d read as minister of public safety. “They have gone further than where the Canadian Security Intelligence Service or national security advisor have gone when it comes to findings,” testified Mendicino.“From where I sit, this is an important reminder.”“We have a shared interest in protecting our democracy,” said Mendicino.“While I think this is well intended we really have to be careful.”“I do believe they were doing their level best to try to get to the core of the issue. It seems as though they were interpreting intelligence reports without having actually named any parliamentarians in the report itself.” .TREASON SCANDAL: MPs uneasy over unnamed spies operating on Parliament Hill . The Committee report outlined “particularly concerning examples” of misconduct by unnamed MPs and senators.“Some may be illegal,” said the Special Report.“Some parliamentarians are, in the words of the intelligence services, ‘semi-witting or witting’ participants in the efforts of foreign states to interfere in our politics.”“These examples include communicating frequently with foreign missions before or during a political campaign to obtain support from community groups or businesses which the diplomatic missions promise to quietly mobilize in a candidate’s favour.”Nathalie Drouin, national security advisor to Prime Minister Jusin Trudeau, testified Wednesday she thought the Special Report was overblown.“I saw no MPs responsible for espionage, sabotage or putting the security of Canada at risk,” said Drouin.
