Defence Minister David McGuinty has walked back his remarks about when and the way he learned about an Iranian airstrike that will 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 in regards to the airstrike in a briefing with government officials, not by reading about it in a newspaper.
Earlier within the day, the minister suggested to reporters at a news conference he didn’t study 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 in regards to the situation within the Middle East while abroad with the prime minister on a worldwide tour within the Indo-Pacific.”
Because the reporter was asking a followup query asserting the minister “knew about this before La Presse reported on it 11 days later,” McGuinty quickly interjected.
“No, I didn’t learn about it before La Presse reported on it,” McGuinty said. “I saw the La Presse story while I used to be overseas.”
Later Thursday, McGuinty’s press team sent The Canadian Press a video of the minister reading out an announcement “clarifying” his earlier remarks in regards to the airstrike.
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“I receive intelligence and security briefings usually. I’m made aware of incidents referring to (Canadian Armed Forces) members and assets all over the world. That was the case immediately following the strike, and that continues to be the case,” McGuinty said, reading from a lectern at one other event.
“This morning, I used to be referring specifically to my awareness of a media report and never to the strike itself, which I used to be informed about by Canadian officials.”
La Presse reported on March 12 that an evaluation 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. Nonetheless Carney was asked by reporters in regards to 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 one spokesperson for the federal government,” Carney said that day. “I’d just confirm that members of the Canadian Armed Forces are all secure and sound.”
The minister refused to substantiate whether the attack struck or damaged any Canadian assets at the bottom. He said he wouldn’t comment in regards to the strike itself, citing “operational security.”
“That is something we don’t speak about. I don’t know why this can be a difficult thing to get through,” McGuinty said. “We don’t put the lads and girls of the Canadian Armed Forces in harm’s way or in danger. We don’t share operational information.”
The federal Conservatives are accusing the federal government of being too secretive in regards to the war and indicate that Canada’s allies are openly sharing such information.
Conservative defence critic James Bezan contends that the federal government can still inform Canadians in a responsible way without compromising the safety of Canadian troops within the region.
Bezan also accused McGuinty shortly after the Kitchener news conference of misleading Canadians about when he knew in regards to the strike.
“That is unacceptable,” Bezan said in an announcement to media. “I shall be holding the minister to account next week in Parliament.”
Some Canadian federal party leaders with top-secret security clearances are actually calling for a closed-door briefing on the airstrike.
McGuinty suggested Thursday that the Liberal government will consider whether to supply a briefing to them, but he didn’t commit to at least one.
Canada has some 200 military personnel stationed within the Middle East in six different locations.
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