News that Canada's spy agency suspects several public servants in B.C. are under foreign influence comes as a shock to the premier and Vancouver city councillors, who worry the vague claim casts doubt on all politicians in the province.

Richard Fadden, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, dropped the bombshell on Tuesday, alleging cabinet ministers in two provinces and several municipal politicians in B.C. are being manipulated by governments in China and the Middle East.

"I was frankly shocked that someone in a position of that kind of responsibility would say those words ... without notifying someone in the province that they believed municipal politicians were involved," Premier Gordon Campbell told reporters.

"It was unprecedented, it was unprofessional, and candidly, with what I know on the face of today, it's totally unacceptable."

In Vancouver, Coun. Geoff Meggs said he was also taken aback by Fadden's words.

"What I'm struck by is what little information there is," Meggs said. "When statements like this are made, it's important to have examples. As it is, every politician now, I suppose, becomes under some sort of suspicion."

Meggs says he remains unaware of any investigation of Vancouver councillors or staff.

Fadden declined to name any of the politicans being investigated, but said they have not hidden their associations with foreign governments. He said there are indications they have shifted their public policies because of their relationships.

Meggs said he was at a loss to guess what kind of influence a foreign power might hope to assert by infiltrating local politics.

"I don't want to minimize the power of municipal politicians, I'm just not sure what they could do to assist a foreign government. Maybe I'm being naïve," he said.

Fadden issued a statement clarifying his comments on Wednesday, saying that foreign interference is "a common occurrence in many countries around the world and has been for decades."

He said local authorities have not been informed about the suspicions because, at this point, they are not of sufficient concern.

Fadden's comments came just hours before China's president Hu Jintao was to arrive in Canada on a rare state visit in advance of the weekend's G20 summit.

His first visit to Canada since 2005 follows Harper's ice-breaker to China last December, highlighted by a public rebuke of the prime minister for not having paid proper heed to China's growing importance.

There was no immediate reaction from Beijing on the serious allegations leveled by the head of the secret service.

With files from The Canadian Press

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