OTTAWA — Canada’s intelligence watchdog agencies have asked the Liberals to spare them from public service cuts in Tuesday’s budget , warning that the organizations they are supposed to keep an eye on are only set to become more powerful.

In an exceptional joint letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney, Canada’s two largest intelligence watchdogs warned in July they would not be able to oversee as effectively the intrusive operations and powers of surveillance of security agencies, including CSIS and the RCMP, if their funding is cut in Tuesday’s budget.

That’s because both review bodies, as well as the office of the intelligence commissioner, were included in the government’s spending review requiring them to propose ways to cut their spending by 15 per cent from their budgets within th

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