Evidence of meeting #49 for Public Safety and National Security in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was departments.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON
I believe this matter came to light on the 25th or so of July. I had a briefing on it about a week prior.
Conservative
Conservative
Frank Caputo Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Nicola, BC
Thank you, Mr. Lloyd.
This is for the minister.
You've probably seen a little year-in-review when it comes to sports, but let's do a little committee-in-review at this point, Minister. We have somebody who knowingly committed fraud. We have a minister who said that they would get to the bottom of it and who 70 days later comes to this committee and says, “We will get to the bottom of it,” with no answers. We don't even have a clear answer as to who's responsible for this. Spoiler alert, Minister: you're responsible.
We have no timelines as to when this will happen. You said that we do “a comprehensive job” in security screening and have “an unimpeachable record”.
Minister, no we don't. This is negligence. Will you come back within the next 30 days to answer the questions that you didn't answer today, yes or no?
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON
Great clip, Mr. Caputo....
I'm actually quite.... Every time I come to this committee, I come with a great deal of respect—
Conservative
Frank Caputo Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Nicola, BC
Answer, please, Minister. Just answer, please.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON
—and with the anticipation of answering questions, Mr. Caputo—
Conservative
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON
—and not for the benefit of a social media post.
Conservative
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON
What I will say, Mr. Chair, is that I've always made myself available to this committee. I've come here numerous times—
Conservative
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON
I'm not answering your question, Mr. Caputo. I'm advising the chair that I'm always available to appear.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Jean-Yves Duclos
Thank you. That's all the time we have.
That gives me—I think on behalf of everyone—the opportunity to thank you, Mr. Minister, for having come to this meeting.
We know that the officials will stay for the second hour. For that to be possible, we will suspend for a couple of minutes.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Jean-Yves Duclos
Hello again. Thank you for joining us for the second part of the meeting.
We have with us the officials from the departments and agencies we mentioned earlier. I won't list their names again, since you're already familiar with them.
I'll immediately go to Mr. Lloyd for six minutes.
Conservative
Dane Lloyd Conservative Parkland, AB
Thank you.
Thank you to the witnesses for being here.
Have you reviewed the process by which Ms. Zhang was able to get a security clearance?
Richard Bilodeau Assistant Deputy Minister, National and Cyber Security Branch, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Thank you, MP Lloyd.
As Ms. Lloyd commented during the first hour, we have looked at the process. The minister asked for a review, so we have an understanding of it. Unfortunately, we're not in a position to go into any details at this point. There is an ongoing investigation.
Assistant Deputy Minister, National and Cyber Security Branch, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
A review is always an ongoing issue. There's always, generally speaking, an opportunity to learn as an investigation proceeds. At this point, I wouldn't be able to give you more specific—
Assistant Deputy Minister, National and Cyber Security Branch, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
We have briefed the minister on the situation.
Conservative
Dane Lloyd Conservative Parkland, AB
Were there gaps in the process that allowed Ms. Zhang to get a security clearance?
Assistant Deputy Minister, National and Cyber Security Branch, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
I'm not in a position to answer any questions relevant to the specific case because an investigation is ongoing.
What I can tell you is that every time something comes up, we always take a look at our processes. I can tell you that at Public Safety we have already made some changes, including adding Internet inquiries to our secret security clearances. That is something that we decided to do at Public Safety.