The mandate of the CSE is not to target Canadians or people in Canada. Under the legislation, the CSE must target foreign entities. This does not change. If by chance the CSE decided to target Canadians, it would be illegal. In my opinion, this is what gives the oversight agencies their importance, whether it is the proposed new committee or the intelligence commissioner, although I think his title should be “judicial commissioner of intelligence”, since he plays a quasi-judicial role. I am proposing this amendment, by the way.
It is necessary to consider a set of data to ensure that the role of our intelligence agencies, whose activities are partly secret, is scrutinized by monitoring agencies worthy of the name. That way, public trust in these agencies is maintained.