Scheer accepts briefing on India trip, but insists MPs hear some of it
OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has agreed to the government’s offer of a classified briefing from the national security adviser about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s trip to India — but not without some strings attached.
Scheer says since the government insists Daniel Jean’s original briefing last month included no classified information, it should have no problem with having journalists and Tory MPs attend the non-secret portions of the briefing.
During the India trip, Jean told a background briefing with reporters that rogue forces within the Indian government were ultimately the ones responsible for the Jaspal Atwal affair.
Atwal was invited to a pair of receptions with Trudeau despite having been convicted three decades ago of trying to assassinate an Indian cabinet minister in the name of Sikh independence.
The working theory was that Indian agents who fear the global rise of Sikh independence orchestrated the controversy in an attempt to embarrass Canada and undermine the entire trip.
The Conservatives, who outed Jean as the official who gave the original briefing, say they believe Jean disclosed classified details at the time.
The government insists otherwise, and has offered a full briefing — complete with classified information — to Scheer, who is eligible to hear such details as a member of the Privy Council.