Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair, I don't think the integrity of my statements here and what I said to Mr. Chong are in question. It is absolute fact that the memo was distributed, and it was not briefed to the Prime Minister.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Not that I am aware of.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I was. I was on leave in July 2021 when it was sent to my office. When I got back, I focused on Afghanistan. It was not put in front of me.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, that is the approach we're trying to take. It requires some trust, because the investigations that are going on with regard to some of this intelligence mean that sources can be compromised, so we are trusting that when the information is shared, it is not then made public by the member of Parliament.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's right.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think everything you are saying is very important, and I don't disagree with it. I would not characterize it as ministers being unable to open their email. The top secret email system means we deliver email to them. That's a responsibility of the public service. The transparency with which we need to speak to parliamentarians is evident.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In the early days of our understanding what the scenario was and the intelligence that led to the document written in July 2021, which referenced an MP.... It did not reference Mr. Chong. Nonetheless, it talked about an MP being targeted. We were not aware that the underlying intelligence had been moved from CSIS into the system and distributed.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I told him it had not been briefed to him and that I didn't know what had left CSIS.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair, I don't think that's an appropriate question.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think the Prime Minister reflected the information he had at the time. He told us to keep working. He organized a meeting with Mr. Chong, and we briefed Mr. Chong.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair, Mr. Chong, in his briefing, asked me whether the memo had been distributed and who received it. I told him I did not yet know. Upon finishing the review of where it had gone, I briefed the Prime Minister and returned the call to Mr. Chong, as I'd promised I would.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  As I said, I was not in this job in 2021. I was the deputy minister of national defence. In July 2021, I was most concerned about Afghanistan. I didn't read the intelligence on foreign interference. As I said, everybody has their reading packages, and there are things that are relevant to them.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The director of CSIS certainly spoke to me about foreign interference, and not only threats against parliamentarians, but foreign interference writ large. These sorts of activities that are taken on by adversaries are much broader than just elections.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I would say, first and foremost, that the evaluation of the panel of five, based on the information given to the SITE task force—the two post-election reviews, the work done by NSICOP and the analysis by the independent special rapporteur—assures us that the elections were free, open and safe, and that the outcome of the elections should not be questioned.