Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino had strong words for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Friday when he claimed the agency failed to brief the prime minister on a Chinese government plan to target Conservative MP Michael Chong’s family.
His comments come at the end of a week that saw the government hounded over how it handled intelligence reports detailing a Chinese government plot to target MPs, reported by the Globe and Mail.
“What I would say is that it’s a serious problem that in July 2021 that neither the prime minister or the public safety minister at the time were briefed directly by CSIS,” Mendicino said Friday afternoon from the Liberal policy convention in Ottawa.
“But we’re rectifying that.”
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked repeatedly to explain why he told Canadians that information about the Chinese government plot to target MPs was never shared outside of CSIS — despite a report to the contrary.
But the prime minister refused to answer questions about the source of the communication disconnect in his government.
“I get briefings regularly from various sources. I’m not going to go into details on that,” he said. “I shared the best information I had at the time both to [Conservative MP Michael] Chong and to Canadians.”
Reporters press PM for answers on Chong situation
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he shared ‘best information’ he had with Canadians on Wednesday, when he said a report about China’s intelligence service seeking to target MPs never left CSIS.
On Monday, the Globe and Mail published a story citing a top-secret 2021 CSIS document saying that China’s intelligence agency was seeking information about an unnamed Canadian MP’s relatives “who may be located in the PRC [People’s Republic of China], for further potential sanctions.”
A national security source reportedly told the Globe that the MP targeted was Chong and that Zhao Wei, a Chinese diplomat in Canada, was working on this matter.
On Wednesday, Trudeau said the matter wasn’t shared outside of CSIS.
“We asked what happened to that information, was it ever briefed up out of CSIS? It was not,” he said at the time.
“CSIS made the determination that it wasn’t something that needed to be raised to a higher level because it wasn’t a significant enough concern.”
Conservative MP Michael Chong rises during question period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
On Thursday, Chong told the House of Commons that the intelligence report on the matter was shared with relevant departments — including the prime minister’s national security and intelligence adviser in the Privy Council Office. The Wellington-Halton Hills MP said the current national security adviser, Jody Thomas, told him so.
“This report contained information that I and other MPs were being targeted by the [People’s Republic of China],” he said.
Minister insists alleged threats against MPs were ‘never shared with’ him
Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair, who was the minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness in July of 2021, speaks with reporters about his knowledge of a Chinese government plot to target MPs. ‘It would have been useful to have that information at the time,’ he says.
On Friday, Trudeau insisted again that the CSIS information wasn’t shared with the political level.
“They proceeded to go through their processes in the way that they felt was the right thing to do,” he said.
“It’s also clear that information never made it up to the political level in my office, to me, or even to the minister of Public Safety at the time.”
That person, Bill Blair, said he was aware of concerns about potential interference but wasn’t briefed on specific names.
“My hindsight is as clear as everybody else’s. It would have been useful to have that information at the time but it was never shared with me,” said Blair, who is now now Emergency Preparedness minister.
“They didn’t tell me who they were briefing or when they were briefing or what it was about.”
Conservative MP Michael Chong is demanding an explanation and action after reports that he and his family were targeted by China and one of its diplomats living in Toronto. Plus, how are the Liberals planning to re-energize the party?
Blair said questions about why he wasn’t briefed should be directed at CSIS and the relevant department heads.
Trudeau said he directed the spy agency to share more information with the federal government about threats to members of Parliament in light of the Chong case.
A spokesperson for CSIS said Friday the agency is limited in what it can say, but added that intelligence assessments are shared with the government.
“Raw intelligence and intelligence assessments products are shared with the government of Canada to advise on threats to national security. CSIS will continue to lawfully inform the government of Canada, and Canadians, of potential threats,” said Eric Balsam.
“CSIS has a culture of continual learning and improvement and this includes how intelligence is shared and used to inform decision-making.”
Chong has said that prior to this week, CSIS had only given him a “defensive briefing” — a term the agency uses for an educational briefing — but it was general in nature and didn’t contain information about Zhao.
Balsam said earlier this week that CSIS met with Chong “to discuss potential foreign interference threats posed to the MP and his family.”
Ian Brodie, then Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s chief of staff, looks on as a government caucus meeting begins on Parliament Hill on March 5, 2008. (Tom Hanson/Canadian Press)
Ian Brodie, who served as chief of staff to former prime minister Stephen Harper from 2006 to 2008, told CBC’s Power & Politics that Trudeau’s comments about CSIS not sharing information didn’t make sense.
“It’s natural for CSIS to share its reporting of this sort broadly across other security services and the cabinet office,” he said.
“In my experience, anything that deals with an MP or anyone at the political level would be automatically shared with the Prime Minister’s Office and brought to the prime minister’s attention as quickly as possible.”
Sen. Ian Shugart, who served as clerk of the Privy Council from April 2019 to March 2021, agreed that an assessment about an MP would have been raised politically.
Ian Shugart replaced Michael Wernick as Clerk of the Privy Council on April 19, 2019. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
“I think it’s important that we understand that every case is different and there may be specifics about a case that justify it being dealt with in a different way,” he told host David Cochrane.
“But as a general idea, particularly where a member of Parliament or a parliamentarian is involved, I would have thought that there would be a more rapid transfer of information.”
When the CSIS report — dated July 20, 2021, according to the Globe — was being assembled, the national security and intelligence adviser’s office was in flux.
Vincent Rigby retired and left the position at the end of June.
According to a PCO spokesperson, Dave Morrison, the deputy minister of foreign affairs, acted as the adviser until Thomas was appointed in early 2022. But during the window of July 16 to Aug. 3, 2021, Mike MacDonald was filling in.
“Mr. MacDonald does not recall having seen any material regarding threats to MPs during this time. As a result, no material describing any such threats was briefed to PMO,” the PCO spokesperson said in an email.
Brodie, now a professor at the University of Calgary’s department of political science, said any changeover at the top would not be expected to affect the work of the dozens of people who staff the office of the national security adviser.
“These are not issues where there’s one person who has a bad day or is off at a doctor’s appointment and the system falls apart,” he said.
“I guess the question is then why was the government sending the message to its security agencies that it did not take the challenge of Chinese political interference in the Canadian political process seriously?”
Calls for Canada to expel diplomat
Chong has called for the government to expel Zhao and accused the government of sending the wrong signal to foreign adversaries by not acting more swiftly and decisively on foreign interference.
“We are basically putting up a giant billboard for all authoritarian states around the world that says we are open for foreign interference threat activities on Canadian soil targeting Canadian citizens, and you can conduct these activities with zero consequences,” Chong said during a heated committee meeting Thursday.
Trudeau says ‘due consideration’ necessary on decision to expel diplomat
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with reporters about whether the government will expel a Chinese diplomat accused of interference.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said the government has summoned China’s ambassador and is considering the ramifications of expelling a diplomat.
Shugart said expelling a diplomat is easier said than done. One factor the government must consider, he said, is what happens if Canadian diplomats are expelled in retaliation and Canada is left without eyes and ears on the ground.
“Those are the kinds of things that will go into that decision and they’re made with a combination of the policy objectives and what is the the right thing to do in terms of, for example, the stand that this government has taken against hostage diplomacy As well as the real life implications for this country and its citizens of taking certain actions,” he said.
Trudeau said Friday a decision will be made in “due course.”
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Three NASA astronauts whose prolonged space station mission ended with a trip to the hospital last month declined to say Friday which one of them was sick.
Astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps publicly discussed their spaceflight for the first time since returning from the International Space Station on Oct. 25. They spent nearly eight months in orbit, longer than expected because of all the trouble with Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule and rough weather, including Hurricane Milton.
Soon after their SpaceX capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast, the three were taken to a hospital in nearby Pensacola along with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, who launched with them back in March.
One of the Americans ended up spending the night there for an undisclosed “medical issue.” NASA declined to say who was hospitalized or why, citing medical privacy.
When asked at Friday’s news conference which one had been sick, the astronauts refused to comment. Barratt, a doctor who specializes in space medicine, declined to even describe the symptoms that the unidentified astronaut had.
“Spaceflight is still something we don’t fully understand. We’re finding things that we don’t expect sometimes. This was one of those times and we’re still piecing things together on this,” said Barratt, the only member of the crew who had flown in space before.
Epps said everyone is different in how they respond to space — and gravity.
“That’s the part that you can’t predict,” she said, adding, “Every day is better than the day before.”
Dominick said little things like sitting comfortably in a hard chair took several days to get used to once he returned. He said he didn’t use the treadmill at all during his time in space, as part of an experiment to see what equipment might be pared on a long trip to Mars. The first time he walked was when he got out of the capsule.
The two astronauts who served as test pilots for Boeing’s Starliner — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — will remain at the space station until February, flying back with SpaceX. Starliner returned empty in September.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Forty-three monkeys bred for medical research that escaped a compound in South Carolina have been spotted in the woods near the site and workers are using food to try to recapture them, authorities said Friday.
The Rhesus macaques made a break for it Wednesday after an employee at the Alpha Genesis facility in Yemassee didn’t fully lock a door as she fed and checked on them, officials said.
“They are very social monkeys and they travel in groups, so when the first couple go out the door the others tend to just follow right along,” Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard told CBS News.
Westergaard said his main goal is to have the monkeys returned safely with no other problems. “I think they are having an adventure,” he said.
The monkeys on Friday were exploring the outer fence of the Alpha Genesis compound and are cooing at the monkeys inside, police said in a statement.
“The primates are exhibiting calm and playful behavior, which is a positive indication,” the police statement said, adding company workers are closely watching the monkeys while keeping their distance as they work to safely recapture them.
The monkeys are about the size of a cat. They are all females weighing about 7 pounds (3 kilograms).
Alpha Genesis, federal health officials and police all said the monkeys pose no risk to public health. The facility breeds the monkeys to sell to medical and other researchers.
“They are not infected with any disease whatsoever. They are harmless and a little skittish,” Yemassee Police Chief Gregory Alexander said Thursday.
Authorities still recommend that people who live near the compound about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) from downtown Yemassee shut their windows and doors and call 911 if they see the monkeys. Approaching them could make them more skittish and harder to capture, officials said.
Eve Cooper, a biology professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who has studied rhesus macaques, said the animals have the potential to be dangerous and urged people to keep their distance.
Rhesus macaques monkeys can be aggressive. And some carry the herpes B virus, which can be fatal to humans, Cooper said.
However, Alpha Genesis states on its website that it specializes in pathogen-free primates. Cooper noted that there are pathogen-free populations of rhesus macaques that have been quarantined and tested.
“I would give them a wide berth,” Cooper said. “They’re unpredictable animals. And they can behave quite aggressively when they’re afraid.”
Alpha Genesis provides primates for research worldwide at its compound about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Savannah, Georgia, according to its website.
Locally, it is known as “the monkey farm.” And there is more amusement than panic around Yemassee and its population of about 1,100 just off Interstate 95 about 2 miles from Auldbrass Plantation, a Frank Lloyd Wright house designed in the 1930s.
There have been escapes before, but the monkeys haven’t caused problems, said William McCoy, who owns Lowcountry Horology, a clock and watch repair shop.
“They normally come home because that’s where the food is,” he said.
McCoy has lived in Yemassee for about two years and while he plans to stay away from the monkeys, he has his own light-hearted plan to get them back.
“I’m stocking up bananas, maybe they’ll show up,” McCoy said.
The Alpha Genesis compound is regularly inspected by federal officials.
In 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture fined Alpha Genesis $12,600 in part after officials said 26 primates escaped from the Yemassee facility in 2014 and an additional 19 got out in 2016.
The company’s fine was also issued because of individual monkey escapes as well as the killing of one monkey by others when it was placed in the wrong social group, according to a report from the USDA.
The group Stop Animal Exploitation Now sent a letter Thursday to the USDA asking the agency to immediately send an inspector to the Alpha Genesis facility, conduct a thorough investigation and treat them as a repeated violator. The group was involved in the 2018 fine against the company.
“The clear carelessness which allowed these 40 monkeys to escape endangered not only the safety of the animals, but also put the residents of South Carolina at risk,” wrote Michael Budkie, executive director of the group.
The USDA, which has inspected the compound 10 times since 2020, didn’t immediately respond to the letter.
The facility’s most recent federal inspection in May showed there were about 6,700 primates on site and no issues.
In a 2022 review, federal veterinarians reported two animals died when their fingers were trapped in structures and they were exposed to harsh weather. They also found cages weren’t adequately secure. Inspectors said criminal charges, civil penalties or other sanctions could follow if the problems weren’t fixed.
Since then, Alpha Genesis has undergone six inspections with minor problems reported only once.
In January 2023, the USDA said temperatures were out of the 45 to 85 degree Fahrenheit (7.2 to 29.5 degree Celsius) required range at some of the compound’s monkey cages. The inspection found moldy food in one bin, sharp edges on a gate that could cut an animal and sludge, food waste, used medical supplies, mechanical equipment, and general construction debris on the grounds.
Supporters of medical research involving nonhuman primates said they are critical to lifesaving medical advances like creating vaccines against COVID-19 because of their similarities to people. Keeping a domestic supply of the animals is critical to prevent shortages for U.S. researchers.
Humans have been using the rhesus macaque for scientific research since the late 1800s. Scientists believe that rhesus macaques and humans split from a common ancestor about 25 million years ago and share about 93% of the same DNA.
These monkeys have been launched into space on V2 rockets, used for AIDS research, had their genome mapped and made stars of their own reality television show. They were in such high demand in the early 2000s that a shortage led to scientists paying up to $10,000 per animal.
Outside of rats and mice, rhesus macaques are one of the most studied animals on the planet, said Dario Maestripieri, a behavioral scientist at the University of Chicago who wrote the 2007 book “Macachiavellian Intelligence: How Rhesus Macaques and Humans Have Conquered the World.”
The animals are very family oriented, siding with relatives when fights break out. And they’re adept at building political alliances in the face of threats from other monkeys. But they can be painful to watch. Monkeys with lower status in the hierarchy live in a constant state of fear and intimidation, Maestripieri said.
“In some ways, they kind of represent some of the worst aspects of human nature,” Maestripieri said.
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Lovan reported from Louisville, Kentucky, and Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland speaks with reporters after chairing a special cabinet committee working on Canada’s plan to deal with the incoming Donald Trump administration. Freeland says she’s stood up for Canadian interests in the past and is ready to go another round. (Nov. 8, 2024)
