Mr. Speaker, I understand that my colleague from Malpeque has some concerns. For his information, the activities of CSEC are regularly reviewed by an independent watchdog who has consistently found it to have acted lawfully. We should trust the person who has been appointed and trust our democratic institutions.
The Honourable Jean-Pierre Plouffe, the CSEC independent watchdog, said this last week:
As Commissioner, I am independent of the government and of CSEC, and as such do not take direction from any minister of the crown or from CSEC.
He also stated:
In light of the most recent unauthorized disclosure of classified information of the Communications Security Establishment Canada, I can state that I am aware of the metadata activities referred to....CSEC is only allowed to use metadata to understand the global information infrastructure, for the purpose of providing intelligence on foreign entities located outside Canada and to protect computer systems of importance to the government of Canada.
Should we respect our democratic institutions?