Warrant Delayed by Minister Blair's Office Involved Case Concerning PM Trudeau's Office, Intel Sources Allege
Federal judge approved CSIS warrant in 'Matter of the People’s Republic of China Threat-Related Activities' on June 2, 2021, documents show
OTTAWA, Canada — In a significant development that could reshape Canadian perceptions of the Hogue Commission's investigation into foreign interference, The Bureau's national security sources allege that a critical point of the highly sensitive “Michael Chan” warrant—delayed for more than six weeks by Public-Safety Minister Bill Blair’s office—touched on the office of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Two sources with direct knowledge of the warrant’s contents and the underlying CSIS investigations said its most consequential argument was that CSIS believed Liberal Party powerbroker Michael Chan influenced the Prime Minister’s Office to replace Geng Tan, a sitting Liberal MP, with a new candidate ahead of the 2019 federal election in the Don Valley North riding.
Some CSIS investigators believed this was an attempt of influence “going up to the highest office in the country,” one source said, making the investigation perhaps “the biggest counterintelligence threat we have come across.”
This explosive information builds on previous reporting by The Globe and Mail, now under investigation by Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue. Months ago, in sworn testimony, Blair claimed he signed the warrant within hours of receiving it. However, the Commission has since heard that CSIS records show the warrant sat in Blair's office for at least 54 days. And Zita Astravas, Blair’s chief of staff in 2021 and a former Prime Minister’s Office staffer, was aware of the national security warrant even earlier.
The Hogue Commission is examining the timeline outlined in The Globe’s May 2023 report, which claims Blair’s decision-making on the Chan surveillance stretched to four months. A national security source told The Globe that this delay left CSIS with little time to secure a federal judge’s approval to plant bugs in Chan’s cars, home, office, computers, and mobile phones before the September 2021 election campaign. Recent testimony revealed that at least six weeks of delay within Blair’s office led to significant frustration among CSIS officers, as ministerial sign-off typically takes just ten days.
In Hogue Commission testimony, Chan has denied all allegations of wrongdoing or involvement in Chinese interference in the Liberal’s 2019 nomination contest in Don Valley North.
In response to the warrant allegations, in May 2023, Chan told The Globe and Mail, "I am neither aware of, nor informed of, any such surveillance," describing himself as the victim of “shadowy allegations and absurd conspiracy theories” from national-security leakers.
The Bureau received the same information as The Globe from several confidential sources, who also provided additional details and documents not yet reported in the Hogue Commission.
The sources said Toronto branch officers had gathered enough evidence—despite tensions with some CSIS leaders—to convince a federal judge that Canadian intelligence had reason to believe Chan was involved in People’s Republic of China influence operations.
Regarding CSIS’s investigation—a high-profile and sensitive probe started in early 2019—one source said CSIS officers believed that “Michael Chan recommended either directly or indirectly to PM Trudeau” that Geng Tan, the elected MP for Don Valley North, be replaced.
Eventually, direct discussions between CSIS Director David Vigneault and the agency’s Toronto office were required, a source said, and Vigneault requested to be briefed directly on some of the investigation reports.
The warrant ultimately received Vigneault’s approval.
It was “the most important CSIS counterintelligence [investigation] in the country,” one source said, “as described by Director David Vigneault, internally in CSIS; this was one of the two most important CSIS investigations in the country at the time, along with a counter-terror operation.”
Sources also said Blair’s office was aware of the warrant application for approximately four months in 2021, after it was approved by Vigneault. The warrant required Blair’s signature on a paper report.
But Blair’s office was not the only government branch aware of CSIS’s concerns regarding Chan, according to one source involved in the warrant investigation.
“The Prime Minister’s Office had a briefing on Michael Chan in 2021,” they alleged. “Nothing was getting dealt with.”
Adding yet another layer of complexity, the United States Intelligence Community had an interest in the warrant’s contents and Ottawa’s handling of the matter, two sources said.