Was Stephen Harper Under CSIS Investigation In The late '80's And Early '90's??
The following is a Google translation of an article that appeared in CyberPresse on April 11, 2011:
"CSIS refuses to confirm or deny whether it has documents showing that Mr. Harper, Prime Minister since 2006, has already been the subject of an undercover investigation by its agents.
Press asked CSIS in February to provide, under the Act on Access to Information, all documents in its possession which may show that Mr. Harper has been the subject of surveillance by investigators from the 1 January 1988 and December 31, 1995.
Mr. Harper served as adviser to Mr. Manning in the late 80's before being elected member of the Reform in 1993.
"Pursuant to Rule 10 (2) of the Act on Access to Information, we can neither confirm nor deny the existence of the requested records on Mr. Harper. We mention however that if such documents existed, they could probably be exceptions under one or more sections of the Act, "CSIS said in a letter dated 5 April.
One article cited is 15 (1) dealing with "Canada's efforts to suppress subversive or hostile activities."
-Infiltrate the Reform Party
Recall that in 1989-1990, CSIS hosted a folder that was titled simply "Preston Manning" for a period of three months. At the time, CSIS sought to determine whether a foreign government had paid up to $ 45 000 to Preston Manning and the Reform Party to lend a hand to Mr. Manning to defeat the former Foreign Minister Joe Clark in his own area riding of Calgary in the 1988 election.
But the Service had also recruited and paid a believer in white supremacy, Grant Bristow, to infiltrate the Reform Party. Mr. Bristow, who was instrumental in founding the neo-Nazi Heritage Front, had been involved in planning security measures for two major gatherings of the Reform Party in 1991 and 1992 and had served as a bodyguard for Preston Manning at a few occasions.
In a report on the case published in December 1994, the Supervisory Committee of the CSIS said the agency was justified in practicing espionage groups who advocate the supremacy of the white race, but one CSIS sources had gone too far in invading the Reform Party.
However, the report concluded that CSIS had not spied on the Reform Party as such, an assertion have always doubted Preston Manning and his deputies at the time. Mr. Manning had said that all this controversy had the manners of a "Watergate Canadian."
Recall that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), formerly head of the intelligence service until 1984, had spied for three decades, the former premier of Saskatchewan and the first NDP leader Tommy Douglas. Officers attended his speeches, analyzed his writings and his private conversations were intercepted.
CSIS refused for years to make public the information that was collected. The agency contends that disclosure of documents could endanger the lives of informants and that its activities might be compromised. CSIS said that informants who participated in the surveillance of politician, who died in 1986, are still serving and investigative techniques that could be mined.
- William Leclerc
CyberPress online
The original article can be found here.
-Are there secret CSIS Files on Stephen Harper??
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"OTTAWA - Does CSIS have a file on Prime Minister Stephen Harper?
Two former CSIS agents say it's possible given Harper’s early involvement in the Reform Party and claims from early party members that the spy service tried to infiltrate and discredit them “When the Reform Party arrived on the picture it was fairly new, fairly shocking for Eastern Canada in particular because we didn’t understand that movement coming from the West,” said former intelligence officer Michel Juneau-Katsuya.
Juneau-Katsuya and David Harris, a lawyer and former chief of strategic planning said it would have been prudent for CSIS to look into who the people forming the Reform Party were.
“It would depend on associates, public statements and other such things,” Harris said.
Neither man could confirm a file but Harris said if there is a dossier on Harper it wouldn’t be the same type that the RCMP kept on Tommy Douglas.
“There was much more done under the RCMP in a speculative way.” CSIS took over from the RCMP as Canada’s intelligence service in 1984. A few years later they dropped the ‘subversive’ activities unit that had existed under the Mounties and adopted new rules on spying on Canadians. Those rules include restrictions on spying on groups, such as political parties, and active politicians.
In 1994 it was reported that CSIS had looked into sources of funding for Reform Party leader Preston Manning but an examination by SIRC, the Security Intelligence Review Committee, a civilian oversight body, cleared CSIS of spying on Reform."
Are there secret files on Harper?
"CSIS refuses to confirm or deny whether it has documents showing that Mr. Harper, Prime Minister since 2006, has already been the subject of an undercover investigation by its agents.
Press asked CSIS in February to provide, under the Act on Access to Information, all documents in its possession which may show that Mr. Harper has been the subject of surveillance by investigators from the 1 January 1988 and December 31, 1995.
Mr. Harper served as adviser to Mr. Manning in the late 80's before being elected member of the Reform in 1993.
"Pursuant to Rule 10 (2) of the Act on Access to Information, we can neither confirm nor deny the existence of the requested records on Mr. Harper. We mention however that if such documents existed, they could probably be exceptions under one or more sections of the Act, "CSIS said in a letter dated 5 April.
One article cited is 15 (1) dealing with "Canada's efforts to suppress subversive or hostile activities."
-Infiltrate the Reform Party
Recall that in 1989-1990, CSIS hosted a folder that was titled simply "Preston Manning" for a period of three months. At the time, CSIS sought to determine whether a foreign government had paid up to $ 45 000 to Preston Manning and the Reform Party to lend a hand to Mr. Manning to defeat the former Foreign Minister Joe Clark in his own area riding of Calgary in the 1988 election.
But the Service had also recruited and paid a believer in white supremacy, Grant Bristow, to infiltrate the Reform Party. Mr. Bristow, who was instrumental in founding the neo-Nazi Heritage Front, had been involved in planning security measures for two major gatherings of the Reform Party in 1991 and 1992 and had served as a bodyguard for Preston Manning at a few occasions.
In a report on the case published in December 1994, the Supervisory Committee of the CSIS said the agency was justified in practicing espionage groups who advocate the supremacy of the white race, but one CSIS sources had gone too far in invading the Reform Party.
However, the report concluded that CSIS had not spied on the Reform Party as such, an assertion have always doubted Preston Manning and his deputies at the time. Mr. Manning had said that all this controversy had the manners of a "Watergate Canadian."
Recall that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), formerly head of the intelligence service until 1984, had spied for three decades, the former premier of Saskatchewan and the first NDP leader Tommy Douglas. Officers attended his speeches, analyzed his writings and his private conversations were intercepted.
CSIS refused for years to make public the information that was collected. The agency contends that disclosure of documents could endanger the lives of informants and that its activities might be compromised. CSIS said that informants who participated in the surveillance of politician, who died in 1986, are still serving and investigative techniques that could be mined.
- William Leclerc
CyberPress online
The original article can be found here.
-Are there secret CSIS Files on Stephen Harper??
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"OTTAWA - Does CSIS have a file on Prime Minister Stephen Harper?
Two former CSIS agents say it's possible given Harper’s early involvement in the Reform Party and claims from early party members that the spy service tried to infiltrate and discredit them “When the Reform Party arrived on the picture it was fairly new, fairly shocking for Eastern Canada in particular because we didn’t understand that movement coming from the West,” said former intelligence officer Michel Juneau-Katsuya.
Juneau-Katsuya and David Harris, a lawyer and former chief of strategic planning said it would have been prudent for CSIS to look into who the people forming the Reform Party were.
“It would depend on associates, public statements and other such things,” Harris said.
Neither man could confirm a file but Harris said if there is a dossier on Harper it wouldn’t be the same type that the RCMP kept on Tommy Douglas.
“There was much more done under the RCMP in a speculative way.” CSIS took over from the RCMP as Canada’s intelligence service in 1984. A few years later they dropped the ‘subversive’ activities unit that had existed under the Mounties and adopted new rules on spying on Canadians. Those rules include restrictions on spying on groups, such as political parties, and active politicians.
In 1994 it was reported that CSIS had looked into sources of funding for Reform Party leader Preston Manning but an examination by SIRC, the Security Intelligence Review Committee, a civilian oversight body, cleared CSIS of spying on Reform."
Are there secret files on Harper?
I don’t doubt that CSIS has had a file on Prime Minister Stephen Harper for years. But is it because CSIS “was keeping tabs on” [Reform] as two former CSIS agents have suggested to Mr. Lilley, or because Stephen Harper was himself a CSIS Operative as a former Canadian Intelligence Analyst, Gareth Llewellyn, has alleged.
Just Google in Llewellyn/CSIS/Harper and see what you get; what it shows doesn’t last long as pressures are brought to bear. I was first sent Llewellyn’s allegations a year ago by a UK Journalist who is a highly regarded expert (and author) on intelligence matters. So, is Mr. Lilley’s information correct; or is he being fed disinformation by CSIS to muddy the waters relating to Mr. Harper’s alleged past?
Should it matter to Canadians if our Prime Minister, as alleged, had a former secret life as a CSIS Operative, and, if so, does the Canadian electorate have a right to know?
Roderick Russell
Posted by
Roderick |
4:46 pm, May 07, 2011