Murphy’s Logic: Foreign-collaborating MPs must be held accountable

Murphy's Logic: Government accountability Steve Murphy shares his thoughts on why he thinks MPs who collaborate with foreign governments need to be held accountable.

Governments issue so many reports about so many things it can be difficult to keep track of them all. Most people don’t even try.

A large part of the problem is inquiries that produce reports are often commissioned by politicians facing hot controversies they don’t want to deal with. It’s a stalling tactic. The findings are presented many months or years later – after the given controversy has faded.

But a parliamentary report released last week shouldn’t be ignored or allowed to fade away. The National Security and Intelligence Committee, which has been investigating foreign interference in our electoral process, found a number of our elected MPs have been wittingly – knowingly – collaborating with foreign governments for their own political advantage.

Without more detailed information, we don’t know if this conduct rises to the level of treason, but we do know it’s not acceptable. There simply can be no question as to where a member of parliament’s loyalty lies.

It’s also not acceptable we don’t know who these politicians are and exactly what they’ve been doing. The information has been redacted from the report. It should all be made public, sooner rather than later - and certainly before the next election, which in a minority parliament, could be anytime.

Public Safety Minister Dominic Leblanc, who is one of the most capable members of the Trudeau cabinet, says Canadians trust and understand professional authorities, including the RCMP, will handle this matter, in our national interest. That’s debatable.

What’s outrageously clear is that some of our elected officials can’t be trusted to put Canada first. If that’s not a crime, it’s at the very least a scandalous shame. We simply can’t let them get away with it by political delay tactics.