Tories’ use of provocateurs to entrap Liberals blasted as unethical
OTTAWA - Federal Conservatives are putting a new twist on an old tactic: spying on political opponents.
They're no longer content to send observers to rival parties' public events, passively monitoring proceedings in hopes of spotting a gaffe that can be exploited. They're now employing agents provocateur who actively try to instigate a miscue, secretly record it and then leak it to the media.
Liberals, who've been on the receiving end of the ploy twice in the past three months, call the tactic entrapment, unethical and "Nixonian." And they worry it could lead to the end of candour in federal politics, with wary politicians reduced to mouthing platitudes and reciting carefully scripted talking points.
But the Conservatives are making no apologies. They maintain Canadians have a right to know what Liberal MPs and candidates really think, particularly if their candid views are at odds with those of their leader, Justin Trudeau.
"It's not surprising that Liberals don't want Canadians to know what their true feelings are on important issues," Conservative party spokesman Cory Hann told The Canadian Press.
"What the Liberals are really upset about is that they were caught having one of Trudeau's top advisers deliver anti-Israel messages to certain segments of the Canadian public ... (And) I can see why the Liberals don't want it known that a senior Liberal MP thinks Justin Trudeau is a bozo and in over his head."
Hann was referring to retired general Andrew Leslie, a star Liberal recruit who advises Trudeau on foreign policy, and veteran Toronto MP John McKay, both of whom have fallen victim to the Tory sting operation.
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