The former head of Canada鈥檚 spy agency says he would be 鈥渧ery surprised鈥� if foreign countries hadn鈥檛 attempted to influence the outcome of Canada鈥檚 federal election, as he believes Russia tried to do to the U.S.
Richard Fadden, who directed CSIS from 2009 to 2013 and served as National Security Advisor to Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau until last March, told CTV鈥檚 Question Period host Evan Solomon that although 鈥渉e doesn鈥檛 know鈥� it happened, he 鈥渨ould be very surprised if some attempt hadn鈥檛 been made, either through a cyberattack or through some other means.鈥�
Had he learned of actionable information, Fadden said he would have called the RCMP.
Fadden said that he believes U.S. intelligence agencies鈥� assertions that Russia tried to influence November鈥檚 U.S. presidential race, because the agencies 鈥渨ould never say something like that unless they were virtually certain.鈥�
Fadden expressed worry about the fact that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has demonstrated an 鈥渆xtraordinarily negative understanding of the intelligence community,鈥� adding: 鈥淗e cannot function as president unless he develops a working relationship with (them).鈥�
Fadden said he cannot understand why Trump has said he will not accept daily intelligence briefings. Harper and Trudeau were given daily intelligence reports and the U.S. faces 鈥渇ar greater threats鈥� than Canada, according to Fadden.
Trump allegations 鈥榟ard to believe鈥�
The former spy chief also commented on an unconfirmed intelligence briefing that suggested Russians had collected compromising material on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 agree with a lot of his policies but the man is not stupid,鈥� Fadden said of Trump. 鈥淎nybody who goes to Russia who would subject themselves to that kind of compromise -- I just find unbelievable.鈥�
In light of the cyberattack on the U.S. election, Fadden said Canada should co-operate more with the private sector on information sharing and continue investing in cyber defences, even though it is expensive.
