Head of Security Intelligence Review Committee, Chuck Strahl, Resigns

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Former cabinet minister and the chair of Security Intelligence Review Committee, Chuck Strahl, has offered his resignation to Harper government as he decide to give up a key position in an institute looking over Canada’s spy agency amid ethics questions. The resignation letter was sent to Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, and was later released to the press on late Friday afternoon. The resignation was provoked by several questions implying that he has violated conflict of interest codes by staying in his position.

A former aboriginal affairs minister and minister of transport, Strahl, was the latest head of SIRC appointed by the Harper government to resign amid controversy, since previously Arthur Porter also resigned in 2011 over ethics questions of his own. According to a statement released by Harper’s office, the resignation is effective immediately and so Mr. Harper has appointed former Reform and Canadian Alliance MP and a current SIRC member, Deborah Grey, as the interim chair until a new chair is appointed.

In his resignation letter, Strahl maintained that all his work after retiring as an MP in 2011 has been “consistently appropriate and above board.” He alleged that “any recent criticism in this regard is entirely spurious and unfounded,” and that “I retired from politics three years ago and do not wish to be in the centre of the political fray. Nor do I want to be a distraction. … It is therefore with regret that I have concluded it is best for all concerned that I step down.”