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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe West Block of Parliament Hill is pictured behind the Centennial Flame as a heavy fog hangs over downtown Ottawa on Thursday, April 16, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Sean Kilpatrick<\/p>\n
A recent academic paper on the decades-long discussion about whether Canada should launch a foreign spy agency was to be included in the material presented to committee members as background for their investigation.<\/p>\n
Records recently disclosed by Public Safety Canada under the Access to Information Act indicate cabinet ministers have been briefed on the idea of expanding Canada\u2019s capacity to gather and act on foreign intelligence.<\/p>\n
The Communications Security Establishment, Canada\u2019s cyberspy agency, collects foreign intelligence through electronic means. Global Affairs Canada contributes diplomatic reporting, while the military gathers defence-specific intelligence.<\/p>\n
CSIS is permitted to gather intelligence in Canada and abroad about security threats such as terrorism and espionage. It is allowed to gather foreign intelligence \u2014 information about the activities, capabilities and intentions of foreign people, organizations and states \u2014 only within Canada, not overseas.<\/p>\n
A CSIS memo prepared last year said that in an uncertain geopolitical environment, Canada\u2019s demand for such foreign intelligence might grow.<\/p>\n
\u201cCanada can only learn and act so much through its current collection and authorities, and has historically relied on allied partnerships for certain foreign intelligence reporting,\u201d the memo said.<\/p>\n
Various proposals for a Canadian foreign intelligence service have been debated since the end of the Second World War.<\/p>\n
The committee review of Canada\u2019s foreign intelligence capacity comes as the Carney government prepares the first national security strategy in more than two decades. Such a strategy could shed light on the government\u2019s intelligence needs and whether current mechanisms can satisfy them.<\/p>\n
Briefing materials prepared in February for Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said the national security strategy would focus on building autonomy and resilience to help Canada adapt to unexpected changes.<\/p>\n
The strategy would also, for the first time, recognize the centrality of economic security to national security, the notes said. \u201cProsperity must be built on a secure foundation, and a strong economy increases our ability to act autonomously.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the 2006 election campaign, Stephen Harper\u2019s Conservatives promised to create a foreign intelligence agency to gather intelligence overseas and independently counter threats before they reach Canada. Such an agency did not materialize.<\/p>\n
Goran Samuel Pesic recalls working on the issue in 2007 as an adviser to Stockwell Day, the public safety minister at the time.<\/p>\n
Pesic, a political strategist and lobbyist, said successive governments have shied away from creating a dedicated foreign spy service because public servants told them it wasn\u2019t necessary and, ultimately, because of the cost.<\/p>\n
A foreign intelligence agency can help foster sovereignty and the national interest, he said in an interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be an independent country, we must possess the tools of statecraft,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s environments are such that everything is now international, and what happens in other places will have massive ramifications in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n
A foreign intelligence service could provide insights from around the world that help Canada anticipate events, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe political question is, do we make one or not? And if we\u2019re prepared to make one, what does it going to look like? What mandate will it serve? How it will complement existing intelligence collection architecture, and ultimately what will be the long-term funding model to support this?\u201d Pesic said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t buy for one single moment that it\u2019s too expensive. Life is expensive. Canadian interests are priceless.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA \u2013 Parliamentarians are taking a hard look at Canada\u2019s overseas intelligence gathering capabilities as debate simmers over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":902935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-902934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=902934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/902935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=902934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=902934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=902934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}