The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) had to make Minister Bill Blair feel “comfortable” with a request for surveillance powers on an Ontario politician, a former top Public Safety official told the Foreign Interference Commission.
The commission has been probing why it took then-Public Safety Minister Blair 54 days to approve the 2021 warrant application against a subject whose identity was not revealed during proceedings.
Past intelligence leaks and related comments by Blair to the inquiry in April identify the subject as current Markham deputy mayor and former Ontario Liberal cabinet minister Michael Chan. Chan recently praised the Chinese Communist Party’s rule over China to mark the 75th anniversary of the communist takeover….