(This
column was published in the North
Shore News on
Oct. 25, 2000)
Election buries SIRC report
By Leo Knight
LOST
in the final days of the 36th Parliament was the quiet release
by SIRC, the civilian watchdog committee of CSIS, of its report
on the demise of the joint CSIS/RCMP Project Sidewinder and the
alleged interference by the Prime Minister's Office in the
process.
The
report was buried in the Annual Report to Parliament of SIRC and
tabled by the Solicitor General to the House on Friday, the last
day before an election call by the prime minister.
Jean
Chrétien's premature political ejaculation has effectively
buried a week of incredibly bad news, in the feeding frenzy of
an election. With the election call he has stifled the criticism
of his government in the wake of the damning Auditor General's
report. He deflected the public's attention on the equally
damning Information Commissioner's report and polished off the
criticism on Project Sidewinder by having the report tabled in
the final hours of a now defunct parliament.
And
now he goes to you, cap in hand, saying "please give me
another mandate. You can trust me." He's got some kind of
brass neck, this prime minister of ours.
Not
that it matters much, I suppose, in the matter of the SIRC
report. I have already explained to you how the report had been
compromised, as evidenced by Liberal Solicitor General
Parliamentary Secretary Lynn Myers, in his response in Question
Period to Alliance MP Jim Abbott. Myers, you'll recall, said the
report cleared the prime minister, ostensibly before the report
was even done and shortly after the committee chairwoman, Paule
(sic) Gauthier, had stated publicly that the report was not yet
complete.
Indeed,
reading the relevant sections of the SIRC annual report one
can't help but see a smear campaign. SIRC even complained about
the grammar and the syntax used by its author.
So
let's get this straight. Project Sidewinder was a joint
CSIS/RCMP investigation into inordinate influences exerted on
Canada by the Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC).
It also examined the ability of elements of Asian Organized
Crime to act in concert with the People's Liberation Army (PLA)
and the PRC to take control of sensitive Canadian industries and
corrupt our politicians through direct and indirect donations.
The
investigators were examining the planned and deliberate attempts
to exert significant influence on the sovereignty of this nation
and the SIRC committee says there was no political interference
and by the way, the grammar, syntax and spelling were bad.
SIRC
also claims in its report that project was never terminated as
claimed in "media reports." According to the report,
"The project was not terminated; it was delayed when its
initial product proved to be inadequate." Huh?
Oh,
and what about all the documents and material ordered shredded
by the brass at CSIS?
No
problem, according to SIRC. "CSIS disposed of what is
regarded as "transitory" documents related to
Sidewinder's first draft in accordance with what it regards as
standard practice. The service is unable to locate other related
documents the committee regards as non-transitory in nature. The
committee does not believe this lapse had a material impact on
the events surrounding Project Sidewinder.
So
CSIS destroyed "transitory" documents in what CSIS
claims is "standard practise." CSIS is "unable to
locate other related documents" and the committee
"does not believe this lapse had a material impact."
SIRC just accepts this and then makes an absolute conclusion
that there was no interference. And on top of that, SIRC claims
the project was never terminated, but was only
"delayed"! For almost three years, it's
"delayed"?
The
SIRC report also reiterated several times the claim that the
Sidewinder report was little more than "innuendo" and
"provides a loose, disordered compendium of
"facts" connected by insinuations and unfounded
assertions. Overall, the document is rich with the language of
scare-mongering and conspiracy theory."
Oh
really? I have read the Sidewinder report. It examines specific
companies and the individuals who control them. It also examines
the history, which led up to the series of events it
investigated. It even documents a meeting on May 23, 1982
between Deng Xiao Ping, Li Ka Shing and Henry Fok.
The
author of the Sidewinder report almost seems to have anticipated
the criticisms. Consider this sentence from paragraph 2 of the
forward.
"This
document does not present theories but indicators of a
multi-faceted threat to Canada's national security based on
concrete facts drawn from the databanks of the two agencies
involved, classified reports from allied agencies and various
open sources."
Later
in the next paragraph, it says, "It should be reiterated
that this report presents concrete facts, not just ideas or
speculation."
Let
there be no doubt in your mind that the SIRC report does nothing
to dispel the fundamental criticism and allegations made by the
people who worked on Sidewinder.
In
a previous column, I explained the presence on the SIRC
committee of Bob Rae, former Premier of Ontario and brother of
Jean Chrétien's campaign manager, John Rae. But there is
another member of that committee whom we need to have a peek at.
James Grant is a lawyer with the law firm Stikeman, Elliott. That law firm is the fourth largest in Canada and has extensive links to Li Ka Shing, mentioned predominantly in the Sidewinder report. Several former partners of the firm now work directly for Li and are on the boards of several of Li's companies including Concord Pacific and Husky Oil.
And
Chrétien, in calling the election, has effectively dissolved
this parliament, the only legal forum which could have examined
all of this and demanded answers.
I
hope you remember all of this as you consider where to place
your "X" on election day.
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