Former Harper deputy chief of staff says CSIS never briefed her on foreign interference | CBC News

A former top aide to Stephen Harper told a House of Commons committee that CSIS never briefed her on foreign interference when she was deputy chief of staff in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) — but some committee members expressed doubts about her claim.

Jenni Byrne, who served as Harper’s deputy chief of staff from 2013 to 2015, when he was prime minister, testified before the standing committee on procedure and house affairs (PROC) Thursday as part of PROC’s examination of foreign interference in Canadian elections and institutions.

Byrne also managed Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s successful leadership campaign and was the Conservatives’ national campaign manager in the 2015 and 2011 federal elections.

“I can tell you with all certainty that I was never briefed on foreign interference,” Byrne told the committee.

“It never came to mind because there was never any thought that I had that there were foreign actors participating into the election process.”

NDP MP Matthew Green called Byrne’s testimony “highly suspicious.”

“I find that odd,” he said.

WATCH | NDP MP questions testimony of former Harper aide

NDP MP questions testimony of former Harper aide

Testifying before the procedure and House affairs committee in the House of Commons, former Harper aide Jenni Byrne insisted she was never briefed on foreign interference during her time on Parliament Hill.

“Either you knew and did nothing, or you didn’t know and you’re incompetent — and I’m not saying you’re incompetent because I consider you to be a highly intelligent person so … which one is it?”

Liberal MP Ruby Sahota agreed with Green.

“For you to say today that there was no knowledge, absolutely no knowledge, of this … it really does seem suspicious,” Sahota said.

“Or you’ve built up some type of structure in that time that you were an adviser to Mr. Harper … where you were happy to be ignorant about what was taking place.”

Byrne said the only foreign interference she was aware of during her time at the PMO involved U.S.-based organizations attempting to elect Liberal and NDP candidates in the 2015 federal election. She said she learned about it through media reports.

The Trudeau government has come under fire over media stories reporting that the Chinese government engaged in a range of interference efforts in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. One Globe and Mail story reported Beijing sought a Liberal minority government in 2021.

A story by Global News, citing national security sources, alleged that Han Dong, the Liberal MP for Don Valley North, was communicating with Chinese government officials and was under Beijing’s influence. Dong has resigned from the Liberal caucus, has denied the allegations and is suing Global over the story.

Conservative MP Michael Cooper asked Byrne what she would do in a similar situation.

“What advice would you have given the prime minister if CSIS briefed you with warnings that a candidate running for the Conservative Party was part of a foreign interference network?” he asked.

Byrne said she would recommend that the candidate be removed.

But several committee members brought up the case of Bob Dechert, a former Conservative MP and former parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs.

In 2011, hacked emails revealed that Dechert had exchanged several flirtatious messages with Shi Rong, a journalist working for the Chinese government news agency Xinhua. The case raised concerns about efforts by Beijing to influence politicians.

Dechert apologized and Harper did not punish him over the matter. Dechert ran again in the 2015 election but was defeated.

Byrne said she was not working in the PMO when the Dechert emails were revealed. She was the Conservative Party’s director of political operations at the time.

“My understanding is there was no briefing regarding Mr. Dechert in terms of what happened in 2011,” Byrne said.

“All I can say is, as the campaign director in 2015, CSIS never informed me or briefed me on any concerns they had with any candidate that ran for the Conservative Party of Canada in the 2015 election campaign.”

Byrne said Harper would have taken a more effective approach to the current controversy surrounding foreign inference.

“I believe Prime Minister Harper, had he been given these allegations, they would have been public and they would have been acted upon,” Byrne said.

She cited the Harper’s government’s expulsion of Iranian diplomats from Canada in 2012 as an example. The government had accused Iran of using its diplomatic assets in Canada for spying.

A source has told Radio-Canada that the federal government will move ahead with a foreign agents’ registry later this year in an effort to combat foreign interference.