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Canadian government inattention to intelligence dates back to the Gouzenko affair

Why is it that a series of Canadian governments is incapable to take what their intelligence agencies tell them about national security threats?

Episode 218 – Canada has an embarrassing record of ignoring intelligence

When Igor Gouzenko defected from the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa in September 1945 with concrete evidence of extensive Soviet spying in Canada his information was initially ignored. Luckily, he was found to be accurate and the WWII alliance between the West and East foundered, leading to the Cold War. 75 years later, yet another federal government is poohpoohing intelligence pointing to extensive Chinese interference in national elections in 2019 and 2021. What is wrong with these officials? Borealis delves into this issue.

Igor Gouzenko | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Canada needs an inquiry into Chinese election interference: ex-spymaster – National | Globalnews.ca

By Phil Gurski

Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. Phil is a 32-year veteran of CSE and CSIS and the author of six books on terrorism. His latest book the second edition of The Peaceable Kingdom: A history of terrorism in Canada from Confederation to the present, was published by Double Dagger in February 2023.

By Phil Gurski

Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. Phil is a 32-year veteran of CSE and CSIS and the author of six books on terrorism.

3 replies on “Canadian government inattention to intelligence dates back to the Gouzenko affair”

I just listened to your presentation on the issue of Chinese spying and the cowardly reaction on the part of Trudeau and the Government. It irritates me to no end that firm and prompt action has not been taken by the government to sustain our integrity against China and do justice to all patriotic Canadians. I agree with every word you said and I write to encourage you to soldier on and keep telling the truth. You are a “voice crying in the wilderness”. And that is a reflection of the greatest disease affecting our system: the prevalence of complacency. You mentioned some factors which lay a part, no doubt. In my mind this is a complex issue and its causes go right to the roots of our political system. In 1844 in a speech to the House of Assembly in St. John’s a prominent Representative, John Kent, later to be Premier said “Democracy is everybody’s business, and what’s everybody’s business is nobody’s business”. In other words, everyone else expects the other fellow to do something about it. That’s because our so-called democracy is not a participatory democracy. People just go out and vote every 4 years or so and then go home and yawn for the next four. And they are giving up voting now too. I have been advocating that its a necessity to strengthen our democracy in every way we can. We must engage citizens in the governing process beginning at the village and community level. But I have gone on too long…sorry about that but the complacency has reached a dangerous level. Have a great day and dont forget “Keep right on to the end of the road…..”

Glad to see after all these years; you are actually getting real comments on your blog, Phil.

P.S. I called the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security last night. I let them know I finally got that Android 13 update, along with the 4+ month old December 2022 security patch.

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