Defence Minister David McGuinty has walked back his remarks about when and how he learned about an Iranian airstrike that may have hit Canadian assets in Kuwait earlier this month.
In prepared remarks Thursday — which he described as a “clarifying statement” — McGuinty said he first learned about the airstrike in a briefing with government officials, not by reading about it in a newspaper.
Earlier in the day, the minister suggested to reporters at a news conference he did not learn about potential damage to the Canadian camp at a Kuwait airbase on March 1 until the Quebec newspaper La Presse reported on it on March 12.
A London Free Press journalist asked McGuinty at an event in Kitchener, Ont., when he had “first learned about this attack.”
The minister replied he was “first informed about the situation in the Middle East while abroad with the prime minister on a global tour in the Indo-Pacific.”
As the reporter was asking a followup question asserting the minister “knew about this before La Presse reported on it 11 days later,” McGuinty quickly interjected.
“No, I didn’t know about it before La Presse reported on it,” McGuinty said. “I saw the La Presse story while I was overseas.”
Later Thursday, McGuinty’s press team sent The Canadian Press a video of the minister reading out a statement “clarifying” his earlier remarks about the airstrike.
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“I receive intelligence and security briefings regularly. I am made aware of incidents relating to (Canadian Armed Forces) members and assets around the world. That was the case immediately following the strike, and that continues to be the case,” McGuinty said, reading from a lectern at another event.
“This morning, I was referring specifically to my awareness of a media report and not to the strike itself, which I was informed about by Canadian officials.”
La Presse reported on March 12 that an analysis of satellite imagery suggests the small Canadian section of the Ali Al-Salem airbase sustained damage in an attack on March 1.
McGuinty was travelling to Norway with Prime Minister Mark Carney the day the La Presse story was published. However Carney was asked by reporters about the La Presse report in Yellowknife, N.W.T. on the afternoon of March 12 — before he and McGuinty flew overseas.
“Well, I’m not the only spokesperson for the government,” Carney said that day. “I’d just confirm that members of the Canadian Armed Forces are all safe and sound.”
The minister refused to confirm whether the attack struck or damaged any Canadian assets at the base. He said he would not comment about the strike itself, citing “operational security.”
“This is something we do not talk about. I don’t know why this is a difficult thing to get through,” McGuinty said. “We do not put the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces in harm’s way or at risk. We do not share operational information.”
The federal Conservatives are accusing the government of being too secretive about the war and point out that Canada’s allies are openly sharing such information.
Conservative defence critic James Bezan contends that the government can still inform Canadians in a responsible way without compromising the security of Canadian troops in the region.
Bezan also accused McGuinty shortly after the Kitchener news conference of misleading Canadians about when he knew about the strike.
“This is unacceptable,” Bezan said in a statement to media. “I will be holding the minister to account next week in Parliament.”
Some Canadian federal party leaders with top-secret security clearances are now calling for a closed-door briefing on the airstrike.
McGuinty suggested Thursday that the Liberal government will consider whether to provide a briefing to them, but he did not commit to one.
Canada has some 200 military personnel stationed in the Middle East in six different locations.
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