British spies asked Canada to help infiltrate the Cold War-era government of what is now the South American country of Guyana, a newly declassified study reveals.

Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, better known as MI6, sought assistance in placing a Canadian as "special economic adviser" to Dr. Cheddi Jagan, prime minister of British Guiana in the 1950s, says the study.

"The British hoped that the Canadians might be able to provide an economist who could moderate what they termed Jagan's `extreme left-wing tendencies' and guide his policies along `sound lines.'"