It took six weeks for then-Public Safety Minister Bill Blair to approve electronic surveillance of an Ontario politician, leading to frustration within the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the Foreign Interference Commission has learned.
Officials from CSIS testified on the matter before the Foreign Interference Commission on Sept. 27, saying the delay was unusual.
“We wondered what was going on, there was frustration with the delay,” said former CSIS deputy director Michelle Tessier.
Tessier said judicial authorizations are normally approved within 10 days by the minister. Blair, now defence minister, told the inquiry in April he had approved the warrant three hours after it was placed on his desk….