Public Safety committee  That is a possibility.

Public Safety committee  It is not treason, Mr. Chair. The definition of treason in the penal code does not apply in this case.

Public Safety committee  Yes.

Public Safety committee  It would depend on the nature of the threat. If the threat were immediate, I would call one of the first responders. I would call the police.

Public Safety committee  I beg your pardon. Yes.

Public Safety committee  As I think I answered in a previous question, I was made aware of these two cases in a general way near the end of 2009. The service had been working on these for some time; I don't know quite how long. As I said earlier, I was sufficiently concerned about the matter that I raised them with the national security adviser in early 2010, although largely with the view of finding out what protocol would apply should it be decided that we needed to contact anyone outside of the federal government.

Public Safety committee  I don't remember the words, but something along those lines.

Public Safety committee  My understanding is she did not, although just to be clear, she is of the PCO--

Public Safety committee  --so that's a different issue. I do not think she did, because I did not provide enough detail to warrant, I think, informing either the minister or anyone else. I gave her the sense that these were a couple of files the service had been looking at for some time. There was no immediate threat to national security.

Public Safety committee  I think it's very difficult to answer that question. I think in the first instance we would consult interdepartmentally. You can do that by phone. You can do it very, very quickly. If I thought that.... And I cannot imagine this happening; it's just not practical. If we thought that, because of foreign influence, a decision by somebody in Canada was going to be skewed because of this foreign influence, and it was a significant decision, I can imagine calling the minister.

Public Safety committee  I think it is necessary, because despite that very comprehensive system of oversight and review, there is not a lot of discussion in Canada about espionage or terrorism or foreign influence. It's not, in fact, the duty of the Inspector General or of the SIRC to report on these things publicly.

Public Safety committee  I think through a variety of means. As I said to one of your colleagues a few minutes ago, Mr. Chairman, one of the difficulties we have is that we can't talk about operational details. We try, in our annual report, to give a bit of a sense of this. I think the annual report of the SIRC does the same thing.

Public Safety committee  Today, yes, absolutely, Mr. Chair. I discussed it with my minister's office, with the Privy Council Office and, of course, with my colleagues at the service.

Public Safety committee  Yes, sir.

Public Safety committee  Yes, sir.