Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Minister, The Globe and Mail recently reported that, before he was demoted within cabinet, your predecessor, Minister Bill Blair, delayed giving approval to a CSIS warrant for surveillance for four months. The Globe and Mail reported that this warrant was related to foreign interference in our country, and the delay occurred in the months leading up to the 2021 federal election.

Minister, on average, how long does it take for you to approve warrant requests from CSIS? What’s the longest amount of time it’s taken you to approve a CSIS warrant? And have you ever delayed a warrant request from CSIS for four months?

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: As I answer that question, I do think it’s important to shine a light on the significance of the work and the function of the office that I occupy as Minister of Public Safety when it comes to signing CSIS warrants. These are among the most powerful tools of surveillance that the service uses to keep our country safe, which is why it is incredibly important that, in my role as minister, I look very carefully at those warrants to be assured that they comply with all of the rigours of the law. That is a part of the way in which we strike a balance between ferreting out threats to national security but doing it in a way that is consistent with the values of the Charter, so that each of us can continue to enjoy our rights as individual citizens.

Yes, there is urgency to this work, but it is also not a rubber-stamp process. That is one of the most important responsibilities that I exercise in this office.

[Translation]