Russian spy case aids Trudeau’s Government

Press, 23 February 1978, Page 16

Russian spy case aids Trudeau’s Government

By

RAYMOND HEARD

in Montreal

Even if relations with Moscow are thrown into a freeze, the expulsion of 13 Soviet diplomats for spying in Canada can only help the beleaguered Prime Minister, Mr Pierre Trudeau, at home in what looks increasingly like an election year. Mr Trudeau’s Government, bv disclosing a classic, ninemonth Russian spying operation, complete with coded messages, oay-otfs and James Bond-type gadgets, has taken the heat oif itself and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Officials at the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa tried to buy a senior R.C.M.P. security officer to leak counter-es-pionage secrets to them. He played along and in the end, as the Mounties’ motto goes, “he got his man” — 13 Russians to be exact. Before the announcement that the spies had been caught red-handed, the security service and the Trudeau Administration were in deep trouble over their admission before two Royal Commissions that dirty tricks had been used against presumed domestic enemies of the State. The tactics included arson, sabotage and forgery. They were directed mainly at Quebec separatists after the 1970 crisis involving the kidnapping of a British diplomat and the garrotting of the Quebec Labour Minister in Montreal. The Government suffered a blow when the Mounties' main defender, the SolicitorGeneral, Mr Francis Fox, abruptly resigned from the Cabinet — admitting he had signed the husband’s name on abortion papers for a married woman with whom he had had a briet affair. Only 38 and bilingual, Mr Fox had been regarded as an heir to Mr Trudeau, who in Ar>-il w :, t hs>V“ been in

office for a decade. Other key Cabinet members had quit recently though for more innocent reasons. It has fuelled speculation that Mr Trudeau’s team is crumbling as the need mounts for a General Election on the issues of the distressing state of the economy, national unity and, unt'il this week, at least, the performance of the R.C.M.P. Now, at a stroke, the Mounties — and the Liberal politicians in Ottawa to whbrn they answer — have won back their reputation. A coup has been staged against the mighty Kremlin itself which had wicked if unexplained designs on the Canadian security service. Even the Opposition leader, Mr Joe Clark, a stern critic of the R.C.M.P.’s domestic

dirty tricks, is impressed. In short, the Mountie issue in the election that Mr Trudeau must call before July, 1979 has been defused. And it will not be too surprising if evidence is produced soon by the R.C.M.P. or the Government that fringe elements of the secessionists’ movement in Quebec were in touch with a “foreign Power” some years ago. The Russian expulsions will make it easier for Mr Trudeau to make law a bill that would allow the R.C.M.P. to open private letters in certain circumstances. Mr Trudeau’s case for vast spending on new aircraft to counter the Soviet military menace has also been strengthened. 0.F.N.5., Copyright.