Postmedia journalist David Pugliese strongly refuted accusations against him during his witness testimony at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on Thursday. 

The claims were made by former Conservative cabinet minister Chris Alexander, who testified that Pugliese was recruited by the Soviet Union’s intelligence agency in the 1980s during his opening statement to SECU on October 24, which went unchallenged by members of the committee.

Alexander presented seven pages of documents, purportedly from the Ukrainian KGB's pre-1991 archives, which he claimed had been authenticated by leading experts on KGB records. He argued that these documents outlined a Soviet operation spanning from 1982 to 1990, which aimed to recruit a Canadian journalist who has been prominent for over 30 years. 

In response to questioning by Conservative MP James Bezan, Alexander identified Pugliese as that journalist.

Pugliese rejected the accusations as “ridiculous” and “entirely false,” emphasizing their impact on his family’s safety.“Mr. Alexander’s fabricated claims are not only ridiculous but dangerous to the safety of my family, particularly my children. His statements would also be libellous had he not uttered them behind the security of parliamentary committee privilege,” Pugliese stated.

During his statement, Alexander blamed Russia for orchestrating campaigns that influence Canadian political and social debates, including the truckers blockade, the yellow vest movement, the “Wexit” movement, anti-vaccine sentiments, and pro-Hamas protests. 

He argued that Russia has long engaged in recruiting and manipulating figures to erode trust in Western institutions. “For decades, Moscow has been recruiting and paying policymakers, influencers, politicians, journalists, and others, to act as their proxies, to undermine trust in our institutions, to dissipate our political will,” Alexander asserted.

Pugliese suggested that his investigative reports on “financial irregularities at National Defence, bungled billion-dollar military procurements, massive waste of tax dollars and incidents of sexual assault in the Canadian Forces” might have triggered the allegations. Alexander previously served as parliamentary secretary to the defence minister when Pugliese’s reports exposed numerous departmental controversies.

Pugliese testified the allegations have resulted in threats promoting him to take measures to increase security at his home.

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