44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 8, 2023 02:00PM
- Mar/8/23 2:39:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as all members in this House well know, our intelligence agencies and officials work very hard every single day to keep Canadians, including Canadians of all different backgrounds and including all parliamentarians, safe from the impacts of foreign interference. Their work is carefully scrutinized by a number of oversight bodies, including NSIRA and NSICOP, that allow parliamentarians and experts to ensure that CSIS and other intelligence agencies are doing everything necessary to keep Canadians and our institutions safe.
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- Mar/8/23 2:40:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, has CSIS warned the Prime Minister, his staff or members of his party that members of his caucus or cabinet are part of a foreign interference network, yes or no?
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- Mar/8/23 2:40:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians will know that issues of national security and foreign interference can often be highly sensitive, which is why we have created bodies like NSICOP and NSIRA and other mechanisms to oversee the important and top secret work that our intelligence agencies. We need to make sure they are doing everything necessary to protect Canadians and make sure that governments are held accountable for acting on information that they could have received from our intelligence agencies. These are processes we have put in place since 2015 that we will continue to work with.
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- Mar/8/23 2:41:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, is it yes or no?
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- Mar/8/23 2:41:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we well know that issues of national security can be highly challenging to discuss as parliamentarians on the open floor of the House of Commons. That is why, over the objections of the former minister in the Harper government that objected to the creation of a national security and intelligence oversight committee, who is now the leader of the opposition, we went ahead and created a body that allows members of Parliament to get cleared to top secret levels so they can look into this question and all questions in a way that does not compromise national security.
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- Mar/8/23 2:41:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, is it yes or no?
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- Mar/8/23 2:42:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, issues around national security have deep implications for the safety and well-being of Canadians and those who serve to keep Canadians safe, sometimes in extraordinarily dangerous positions here and around the world. That is why we have created bodies that allow parliamentarians to get top secret clearance so they can look directly at everything that is done without putting at risk the brave women and men who serve this country to keep all Canadians safe.
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- Mar/8/23 2:42:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, CSIS warned the Prime Minister's Office three weeks before the 2019 election that at least one candidate was identified as implicated in a foreign interference network. Is that member in the Prime Minister's caucus or cabinet, yes or no?
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- Mar/8/23 2:42:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have created formal processes where parliamentarians from all parties, including from the member's own party, can get top secret clearances to look into matters impacting national security and the safety of Canadians without putting at risk the women and men who serve in our intelligence communities here in Canada and around the world so they are able to continue to do their jobs of keeping Canadians safe. I know that no one in this House wants to put anyone who serves this country at risk.
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- Mar/8/23 2:43:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, during a press conference on Monday, the Prime Minister listed his protection measures against foreign interference: in 2017, he formed the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians; in 2018, he created election financing legislation to fend off foreign financing and, in 2019, he came up with a plan to protect democracy and set up a working group on the threats to democracy. It is a list of everything that did not work.
We all see that it did not work. Now it is time to listen to the opposition. What is the Prime Minister waiting for to set up an independent public commission of inquiry?
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- Mar/8/23 2:44:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am waiting for the independent special rapporteur—meaning the independent expert who will be responsible for investigating the mechanisms in place free of any partisan politics—to do their work. The rapporteur will determine whether we need more mechanisms, not only to ensure that the government can do its utmost to protect our democracy and our institutions, but also so that Canadians can have confidence that everything is being done to protect our democracy, our elections and our institutions.
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- Mar/8/23 2:44:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is understandable that the Prime Minister prefers to sweep the issue of interference under the rug. It is understandable that he does not want to hear it mentioned ever again and that he wants to move on.
However, it is not that simple, and it will take more than a secret committee and a rapporteur doing the Prime Minister's bidding. The Prime Minister is playing with public confidence in our electoral system, and that is not very good news. I invite him to listen to the opposition parties. Will he establish an independent public commission of inquiry into foreign election interference?
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- Mar/8/23 2:45:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I find my hon. colleague's comments to be rather disturbing, suggesting that experts may not be as well suited to protect our democracy as the opposition parties.
We are not claiming that one party is better suited than the others for protecting the integrity of our institutions and our elections. That is precisely why Canadians want us to rely on non-partisan experts to make recommendations and to ensure that everything is being done to ensure that they can have confidence in our processes.
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- Mar/8/23 2:46:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, which staff members in the Prime Minister's Office did CSIS brief that there was a Liberal candidate implicated in a foreign interference network? I would like their names.
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- Mar/8/23 2:46:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have addressed a number of questions along the lines of national security. I want to point out another issue that I know is preoccupying for Canadians.
Just recently, Conservative Party MPs knowingly dined with a far-right German politician. Christine Anderson and her party's far-right, xenophobic, anti-science, pro-Putin views are well known. The member's carefully crafted condemnation that neither he nor his MPs will repeat publicly will not cut it. It is time he gave Canadians real answers and apologize.
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- Mar/8/23 2:47:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's Office was briefed three weeks before the 2019 election about a candidate who was implicated in a foreign interference network.
Which members of the Prime Minister's staff were present for that briefing? We would like their names, please.
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- Mar/8/23 2:47:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is extremely important that, as a Parliament, as parliamentary committees, as a government and as Canadians, we look into the issue of foreign interference. That is why, at parliamentary committee, the ministers of democratic institutions and foreign affairs are scheduled to appear tomorrow. PROC has heard from Elections Canada, the director of CSIS, the chief of the CSE, the deputy commissioner of the RCMP, the deputy minister of foreign affairs and the deputy minister of international trade.
To quote the member for Carleton, “for hundreds of years, the principle of ministerial accountability has been paramount here in the House and in its committees.” We agree.
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- Mar/8/23 2:48:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, well, if he believes that he should be responsible, then he should answer the question.
Which members of his staff were briefed by CSIS that one of his candidates was implicated in a foreign interference ring, and was Katie Telford, his chief of staff, among those briefed, yes or no?
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- Mar/8/23 2:48:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians can well see that there are important partisan and political considerations overlaying all these exchanges in the House, which is why Canadians want us to be able to step back as a country and see what actually happened, who actually was doing their job to protect against foreign interference and was everyone doing the right things.
That is why pulling forward an independent expert to oversee the work that is being done to ensure everything that needed to be done was done and was done properly, and that it continues to be done, is going to be important, and that is what we are proposing.
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- Mar/8/23 2:49:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on International Women's Day, we must recognize that indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people experience higher levels of violence. They are murdered and go missing at disproportionate rates, but after eight years, the Liberals have barely implemented any of the calls for justice from the MMIWG2S report. Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people deserve better.
My colleague from Winnipeg Centre has urged the government to create a red dress alert to save countless lives. Will the Prime Minister do it?
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