44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 7, 2023 10:00AM
- Mar/7/23 2:39:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals and the NDP are now openly working together to cover up the truth. Yesterday, the Prime Minister kicked the can down the road by announcing that a hand-picked rapporteur is going to look into maybe looking into the interference. He announced that a secret committee with secret hearings will hear secret evidence and then give the Prime Minister a secret conclusion.
When will he call a public inquiry and tell everybody what he is hiding?
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- Mar/7/23 2:39:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, members heard the government announce yesterday that it is our intention to appoint a special rapporteur who presents the qualifications, the experience and the knowledge to navigate and survey the options on the best next practical steps that we can take to protect our democratic institutions, including our elections.
Is this truly what the Conservatives have resorted to now, denigrating the very institutions that are there to protect our democracy? Is that all they have to offer, denigration? I sincerely hope not.
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- Mar/7/23 2:40:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it sounds desperate. It is a special rapporteur. I get it. The Liberals are blocking a public inquiry, and the NDP is blocking a parliamentary inquiry. As a result, Canadians get a secret committee to look into interference by a foreign dictatorship in our democracy. It is shameful work by the cover-up coalition.
Will they commit to a truly independent and actually public inquiry to look into what the Prime Minister is hiding?
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- Mar/7/23 2:41:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our hon. colleague keeps referring to some secret committee. I think that would be very disparaging for the women and men who serve on the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians. We set up, in legislation, an oversight mechanism to look at these very issues, something the previous Conservative government refused to do. Members of her party serve on that committee.
Members of all political parties represented in this House and senators have done good work. We will continue to work with them on these important issues.
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- Mar/7/23 2:41:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Beijing's foreign interference is a serious threat, a national threat. It threatens the integrity of democratic institutions, social cohesion, the economy, long-term prosperity and fundamental rights and freedoms, but the government has not treated this threat seriously. It has hidden behind all sorts of excuses and accusations, like anti-Asian racism. Now it is hiding behind a secret committee with secret hearings, secret evidence and secret conclusions, all controlled by the Prime Minister.
When is the government going to come clean with us and with Canadians about what exactly is going on?
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- Mar/7/23 2:42:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague knows well that this government takes the work of fighting against foreign interference very seriously. That is why we introduced Bill C-59, which gave CSIS the threat reduction measure powers it needed to address and mitigate that risk. That is why we introduced Bill C-76, to crack down on foreign funding that could interfere with our elections, but with the corresponding transparency to create the NSICOP and NSIRA, all of which ensures that we can be upfront with Canadians so we can defend our democratic institutions.
The Conservatives should rise above the fray and see that this is not a partisan issue—
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- Mar/7/23 2:43:04 p.m.
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The hon. member for Wellington—Halton Hills.
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- Mar/7/23 2:43:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if the government treated the threat seriously, it would listen to the advice of CSIS. CSIS has said that an effective way to counter foreign interference is through sunlight and transparency, to build resilience by informing Canadians about interference threat activities. The government has done the opposite. First it hid behind excuses and accusations, and then it hid behind a secret committee and a special rapporteur. The government has been anything but transparent about this. It is burying the truth in process. Why?
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- Mar/7/23 2:43:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. friend likes to refer to what CSIS said. Let us talk about what it said in 2013, when the Leader of the Opposition was the minister responsible for democratic institutions. It specifically warned, 10 years ago, “When diaspora groups in Canada are subjected to clandestine and deceptive manipulation by a foreign power in order for it to garner support for its policies and values, these activities constitute a threat to the security of Canada.” What did the then Conservative government do for two years after that 2013 threat? It did absolutely nothing.
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- Mar/7/23 2:44:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the cover-up continues. As the media reports more and more information about the Prime Minister's inaction on the interference in our elections by the communist regime in Beijing, the Prime Minister wants to keep hiding.
Yesterday he announced that his big solution to this serious problem was a secret committee, with secret hearings, secret evidence and secret findings, that he could approve himself.
Today, his Liberal MPs at the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs added another layer, blocking a motion from the three opposition parties calling for Katie Telford to appear before the committee.
Will he have the courage to allow his top adviser to speak?
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- Mar/7/23 2:45:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague knows full well that we have been very transparent with the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. Several ministers have been testifying for months. We have made available, as is appropriate, every senior official responsible for Canada's security and intelligence agencies.
I very much hope to have the great privilege of joining the Minister of Foreign Affairs and testifying before this committee, possibly two days from now, to answer our colleagues' questions, as we should be doing and as we have always done.
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- Mar/7/23 2:45:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, he can bring the Prime Minister's special adviser, Katie Telford, with him.
It will be a secret committee with secret meetings, secret testimony, secret witnesses selected by the Prime Minister's Office and secret findings. Who will decide which findings are made public? Guess what? It will be the Prime Minister and his office.
That is why we absolutely need to hear the testimony of his top adviser, Katie Telford. What is said to Katie Telford is said to the Prime Minister. Now, we want Katie Telford to come tell us about it in committee.
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- Mar/7/23 2:46:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I know that my colleague likes to spark outrage, and that is his right, but I can say that, as always, we were transparent with all of the parliamentary committees.
It is the ministers' responsibility to answer our parliamentary colleagues' questions in committee. That is exactly what we did. We also made available all the heads of the security and intelligence agencies, including deputy ministers, to answer members' questions. They will be pleased to return at the committee's request.
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- Mar/7/23 2:47:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, foreign interference in our elections demands a transparent investigation. Let me say a little bit about what the Prime Minister's definition of transparency is.
Transparency for him means turning the investigation over to a national security committee, a committee whose members will not only be bound to secrecy, but to secrecy in perpetuity, a committee that will hold its meetings behind closed doors and whose proceedings neither the public nor parliamentarians will be allowed to follow, a committee that will not be able to say which witnesses it will meet or report their exact words, a committee whose report will inevitably be redacted.
Where is the transparency in that?
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- Mar/7/23 2:47:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government increased the level of transparency by creating the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, or NSICOP, and the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency, or NSIRA.
Yesterday, we announced that we will appoint a special rapporteur to evaluate and monitor all options, and to make recommendations. The government will respect the special rapporteur's choice and recommendations.
That is how we will respect the values of transparency.
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- Mar/7/23 2:48:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that gave me goosebumps.
We need an inquiry into foreign interference in our elections that is both transparent and independent.
Instead, the Prime Minister is appointing a special rapporteur who is supposedly independent, even though this person will be appointed by him. Then, this special rapporteur, appointed by the Prime Minister, will decide what the inquiry will and will not cover. This special rapporteur, appointed by the Prime Minister, will be the one to decide whether the Prime Minister should do more to counter foreign interference.
This rapporteur may well be special, but are we really supposed to believe they will be independent?
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- Mar/7/23 2:49:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government will choose a special rapporteur who possesses the necessary skills and expertise to examine all the options and put forward a recommendation based on the best advice they can offer the government.
That is how we will uphold transparency and protect our democratic institutions and our elections.
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- Mar/7/23 2:49:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am getting even more goosebumps.
Foreign interference in our elections requires a transparent, independent and public inquiry. We know it will not be transparent because it will be led by a committee that is legally bound to secrecy. It simply is not entitled to be transparent.
We also know that the inquiry will not be independent either, because the Prime Minister will personally select his rapporteur. Given that we know that the inquiry will not be transparent or independent, it will obviously not be public.
What is the Prime Minister trying to hide from the public?
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- Mar/7/23 2:50:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague insists on repeating things about a secret committee. That must be the high-level committee that the Bloc is a member of, the committee that hears all the appropriate information about this and other national security issues and that tabled in Parliament reports that the government will act on.
The Bloc has fully participated in this process, and it is one of the processes that we set up to specifically address this issue.
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- Mar/7/23 2:50:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, instead of following the advice of CSIS to provide transparency and sunlight when it comes to Beijing's election interference, the Prime Minister announced what amounts to a cover-up: a secret committee with secret evidence and secret conclusions redacted by the PMO, all to bury the truth. There is no transparency, no sunlight and total secrecy. What does the Prime Minister have to hide?
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