Former public safety minister Bill Blair says he did not consider partisan politics when it came time to approve a spy service warrant to surveil an Ontario Liberal powerbroker.
There was a 54-day gap in 2021 from when the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) submitted an application for the warrant to when Blair eventually authorized it. During that time, CSIS agents grew frustrated with what they perceived as a delay by the minister’s office in the investigation into Michael Chan, a former Ontario Liberal cabinet minister.
Over multiple days of testimony at the foreign interference inquiry — including Blair, his former chief of staff, Zita Astravas, and high-ranking CSIS officials — it is still not clear why this warrant took significantly longer than most CSIS requests to the minister.
But Blair, now the defence minister, testified Friday morning that politics was not behind the delay in approving the surveillance, which was eventually approved just months before the …