Trudeau says it's his job to question CSIS intelligence, call out 'contradictions'

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday he feels it's part of his job to question and call out what he referred to as "contradictions" in intelligence prepared for the federal government.

Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue and members of her team have been poring over a series of documents, including one that showed CSIS believes the Chinese government "clandestinely and deceptively" interfered in both the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

CSIS director David Vigneault appears as a witness at the Public Inquiry Into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions in Ottawa on Thursday, April 4, 2024.

The CSIS document warns that protecting Canadian democratic institutions against foreign interference "will require a shift in the government's perspective and a willingness to take decisive action and impose consequences on perpetrators."

Trudeau's main political rival took aim at that statement before a friendly crowd at the annual Canada Strong and Free Network conference in Ottawa on Thursday.

Vigneault, who testified last week, has been recalled by the inquiry at the request of some of the participants' lawyers to answer further questions about whether he never relayed that information to the prime minister.