OTTAWA—The watchdog for Canada’s electronic spy agency is arguing for a bigger role under the Liberals’ new national security reforms.

In a memo to the House of Commons’ public safety committee, Jean-Pierre Plouffe argued the proposed new position of intelligence commissioner should have a greater role in reviewing and approving the actions of the Communications Security Establishment (CSE).

Plouffe, who has served as the independent reviewer of CSE’s activities since 2013, said the agency’s new power to launch cyber attacks is even broader than the controversial power given to CSIS to “disrupt” threats to Canada.

“CSIS’ threat-reduction activities are limited to those measures that will reduce threats to the security of Canada, while CSE’s active cyber operations are broader, as they may relate, not only to security, but also to international affairs or defence,” Plouffe’s memo reads.

“In essence, CSE could ask the minister to authorize active cyber activities on a matter that would be purely of an international affairs nature, such as (monitoring) communications surrounding an international gathering on the economy or the environment.”

Despite that broad range of activities, there is no independent oversight of CSE’s new offensive capabilities, Plouffe notes; instead, only the ministers of national defence and foreign affairs need to sign off.

“There is no role envisaged for the (intelligence commissioner) to approve such an authorization, even where third-party rights, including their privacy rights, could be affected, including (the rights) of a Canadian outside of Canada, or where Canadian law could be contravened,” Plouffe wrote.

Plouffe is scheduled to testify on Bill C-59, the Liberals’ omnibus national security bill, later this morning.

The legislation was billed as a reform to Bill C-51, the previous Conservative government’s controversial terrorism law that gave CSIS the power to “disrupt” threats to national security, rather than simply collecting intelligence.

But it includes significant changes to how the federal government — and Canadian citizens — keeps tabs on their spy agencies. The intelligence commissioner is one of those proposed changes. The position would create a measure of real-time oversight for CSE’s cybersecurity and foreign intelligence activities.