Arthur Porter, Canada's Ex-Spy Watchdog, To Harper: Come Visit Me In Jail

OTTAWA - When Stephen Harper arrives in Panama on Friday it will bring him within a short drive of a man he'd probably rather forget: alleged fraudster Arthur Porter.

For his part, Porter, who's been jailed in Panama City for nearly two years, still thinks about the man who made him a member of Canada's spy watchdog a few years ago.

He also has a message for Harper.

Arthur Porter dishes dirt on Harper, Couillard

From his jail cell in Panama, accused hospital fraudster Arthur Porter dishes the dirt on his once-thriving political connections with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard in a new wide-ranging memoir that is bound to incense both Harper and Couillard while providing ammunition to their critics.

Porter, who at one point served as chairman of Canada's spy watchdog, also provides details on the inner workings of the Security Intelligence Review Committee that is entrusted with the country's most sensitive surveillance secrets.

The interview: Alleged fraudster Arthur Porter

Arthur Porter has been in prison in Panama for more than a year. The former CEO of the McGill University Health Centre is fighting extradition to Canada, where he and several others are facing charges related to a $22.5-million kickback that SNC-Lavalin allegedly paid to secure the contract to build the new $1.3-billion super-hospital. Porter denies any wrongdoing. Born in Sierra Leone, Porter is a well-known oncologist and was appointed by Stephen Harper to the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), the watchdog of the Canadian security service, in 2008. He was named chairman in 2010. Porter spoke with reporter Jeff Todd, who worked with Porter on his memoir: The Man Behind the Bow Tie: Arthur Porter on Business, Politics and Intrigue. The book will be published in mid-September.

Porter ‘fooled everybody’ on his way to the top of Canada’s spy agency’s watchdog

While Prime Minister Stephen Harper continues to face daily questions over his office’s involvement in the Mike Duffy affair, another appointee-related headache is brewing 2,500 miles away in Panama where Arthur Porter, former chair of the Security and Intelligence Review Committee, faces extradition to Canada over serious charges of fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering.

How Dr. Porter was able to gain the Prime Minister’s trust and work his way from sitting on the Canadian Institute of Health Research’s governing council, into the Privy Council, and to the top of SIRC while allegedly participating in a multi-million dollar fraud scheme in Montreal remains in question.

The Doctor of Panama: A strange tale of Harperite politics and national security

It's almost bizarre, and almost certainly driven by political expediency, that no one seems to have so much as commented on the serious security implications posed by Arthur Porter's troubles with the law.

Dr. Porter, as is by now well known, is the former head of what's constantly referred to in journalistic shorthand as "Canada's spy agency watchdog," the federal Security Intelligence Review Committee.

But despite the fact that earlier this week he was arrested in Panama on Canadian fraud charges, no one seems to be paying much attention how or why Porter got to be the chairman of SIRC, or what that means for national security in the context of his current troubles.

Porter a federal Tory donor while chair of spy watchdog

Arthur Porter was a donor to the federal Conservatives during his time at Canada's spy watchdog, public records show.

But his contributions appear to have run afoul of guidelines that all members of the Security Intelligence Review Committee must abide by.

Elections Canada records show Porter gave the Tories the maximum donation allowed by law over a period spanning the weeks leading up to his appointment to SIRC through to his rise as chair.

MUHC, ORNGE and the banality of corruption

Whenever the snow starts to melt, I notice smells re-emerge that I had forgotten about, like of the wood of my hallways or of the White Birch paper plant.

Normally, the stench of corruption isn’t hidden by the whims of catastrophic climate chaos. But in the case of the SNC Lavalin saga, have been relatively quiet throughout winter’s freeze. Until the snow started to melt.

Canada’s spy watchdog’s questionable $200,000 deal

The head of Canada’s spy review board wired $200,000 in personal funds to a notorious international lobbyist in a questionable aid-for-infrastructure deal in Africa, the National Post has learned.

Arthur Porter, the federally appointed chairman of Canada’s Security and Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), described in three interviews how he directed cash from a foreign bank account to Ari Ben-Menashe, a jet-setting, Montreal-based businessman who often acts as a middleman in negotiations between the Russian Federation and developing countries.

“This is a file that I’ve tried to put in the very back recesses of my mind,” Dr. Porter told the National Post, in response to his dealings with Mr. Ben-Menashe. “Maybe it was a hoax,” he added. “It was a little too skatey…. It was not traditional business as I understand it. It was a peculiar deal.”

And precarious business for a man in, as he says, “sensitive positions.” Dr. Porter was appointed to SIRC’s five-member committee by Canada’s Privy Council Office in 2008, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister’s Office. He was made its chairman last year. An oncologist and hospital administrator by profession, he is one of only two physicians ever to be appointed to SIRC’s committee, which historically has been dominated by former politicians.