Mr. Speaker, following allegations that the Reform Party had been infiltrated by a CSIS agent, the Prime Minister said repeatedly in the House that federal intelligence services had no mandate to spy on politicians, whoever they happened to be.
On December 16, Michel Robert, acting chairman of the Security Intelligence Review Committee, stated there was no file on the leader of the Reform Party. However, in a letter dated January 27, the executive director of the SIRC confirmed that since October 1989, there had been a file under the name "Preston Manning".
My question is directed to the Deputy Prime Minister. Why did the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, in October 1994, say in the House that no intelligence service had a mandate to spy on politicians, when we now know that CSIS actually has a file on the leader of the Reform Party and has had one for five years?