ottawa –
The former deputy public security minister said the weeks-long delay in ministerial approval of the spying warrant did not feel “particularly exceptional” in early 2021.
Rob Stewart told the public inquiry Tuesday that in hindsight, the Canadian Security Intelligence Agency’s general tracking of warrant applications could have been better.
But Stewart, who served as deputy minister at the ministry from late 2019 to October 2022, said things often took longer to get done, especially during the turmoil caused by the coronavirus pandemic. spoke.
“If it were me, I would generally treat it as the result of a difficult situation.”
In the foreign interference investigation, a CSIS warrant application reportedly took 54 days to be approved by then-Secretary of Public Safety Bill Blair.
The average turnaround time for such applications is 4 to 10 days.
Michel Tessier, CSIS’ deputy director of operations at the time, told the inquiry that while he was not concerned about any interference or pushback from the minister’s office, he was frustrated by the delays.
Prime Minister Blair said he signed the warrant immediately after being notified of it.
A lawyer for the committee questioned Mr. Stewart on Tuesday about the time it took to sign the warrant, and wondered whether he had informed Mr. Blair, Mr. Blair’s chief of staff, about it.
Mr Stewart said that given the importance of the warrant, it should have been “high on the list of action items we were asking the minister to take”.
“I have no specific recollection of flagging this warrant. I should have flagged all warrants.”
Mr Stewart said he did not raise the issue with Mr Blair himself, in part because conversations over unsecured phone lines were common during the pandemic.
Gib van Ert, a lawyer for Conservative MP Michael Chong, pressed Mr Stewart about the delay in issuing the warrant during cross-examination on Tuesday.
Stewart said he could not explain how long it would take or discuss the contents of the warrant.
Gita Astravas, Blair’s chief of staff in 2021, is expected to appear at an inquest on Wednesday.
Mr Blair, now defense minister, is scheduled to give evidence on Friday.
Sean Tapper, who took over as deputy public safety minister at the end of 2022, said the new process has led him to “probably pursue this issue a little more aggressively than before.”
“So we have a tracking system to make sure that documents are processed. We’ll know if a document is being left behind and we’ll know why it’s being left behind,” Tapper said. said.
He added that CSIS may continue to hold its own discussions with ministers.
“But certainly I think there is a coordinated process between CSIS and us now to have a higher degree of awareness of the circumstances of a particular warrant.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.
