Delay in spy warrant did not appear distinctive: ex-official

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OTTAWA — A former deputy minister of public security says nothing struck him as “significantly distinctive” in early 2021 a few weeks-long delay in ministerial approval of a spy service warrant.

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Rob Stewart instructed a public inquiry Tuesday that looking back, common monitoring of Canadian Safety Intelligence Service warrant functions may have been higher.

However Stewart, the division’s deputy minister from late 2019 to October 2022, mentioned issues typically took time to get completed, notably throughout the disruptive interval of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I might have handled it as, by and huge … a perform of the circumstances, which have been difficult.”

The inquiry into international interference has heard that it took so long as 54 days for the CSIS warrant utility to be permitted by Invoice Blair, public security minister on the time.

The typical turnaround time for such functions is 4 to 10 days.

Michelle Tessier, CSIS deputy director of operations on the time, has instructed the inquiry there was frustration with the delay, although no concern about interference of any kind or pushback from the minister’s workplace.

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Blair has mentioned that he signed off on the warrant quickly after it was delivered to his consideration.

Fee counsel requested Stewart on Tuesday in regards to the time delay in getting the warrant signed, questioning whether or not he had introduced it to the eye of Blair’s chief of employees.

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Stewart mentioned it might have been “on the higher a part of a listing of motion gadgets that we have been in search of from the minister,” given the significance of warrants.

“I don’t have a particular reminiscence of flagging this warrant. I might have simply flagged each warrant.”

Stewart says he didn’t increase the matter with Blair himself, partly as a result of they might usually converse throughout the pandemic on a non-secure phone line.

A newly launched abstract of Stewart’s earlier, closed-door inquiry testimony signifies he mentioned “it might have taken CSIS a while to get the minister and his employees comfy with this specific warrant.”

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“Mr. Stewart surmised that questions would in all probability have been requested about sure processes associated to the execution of the warrant,” the abstract says.

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Gib van Ert, a lawyer for Conservative MP Michael Chong, pressed Stewart throughout cross-examination Tuesday in regards to the warrant delay.

Stewart mentioned he couldn’t clarify the time taken, nor was he in a position to focus on the substance of the warrant.

Zita Astravas, Blair’s chief of employees in 2021, is about to seem Wednesday on the inquiry.

Blair, now defence minister, is slated to testify on Friday.

Shawn Tupper, who grew to become deputy minister of public security in late 2022, mentioned that on account of a brand new course of, “we monitor these items a bit bit extra aggressively now than maybe we used to.”

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“So we actually have a monitoring system that ensures a doc is processed. If it’s sitting, we are going to know that, and we can discover out why it’s sitting,” Tupper mentioned.

CSIS would possibly nonetheless have its personal dialogue with the minister, he added.

“However actually, I believe, between CSIS and ourselves, we’ve a co-ordinated course of now that ensures that we’ve a better diploma of consciousness of the standing of a given warrant.”

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