SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 168

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 10, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 168 - Mar/10/23
Ms. Jennifer O'Connell (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities, Lib.)
  • Mar/10/23 11:18:32 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, just because the Conservatives continue to repeat this narrative does not actually make it true. We have taken the issue of foreign interference incredibly seriously since we formed government. In fact, foreign interference was raised when the Leader of the Opposition was the minister responsible, but what did he do? He did absolutely nothing. That is why, when we came into office, we made sure our democratic institutions were built strong and robust to protect Canadians from threats of foreign interference.
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Context: House Hansard - 168 - Mar/10/23
Ms. Jennifer O'Connell (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities, Lib.)
  • Mar/10/23 11:19:54 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have outlined on numerous occasions all of the measures we have continued to take to address the issues of foreign interference, but let me introduce a fact to that hon. member. It was just this week the Leader of the Opposition said that, of course, the previous Conservative government did nothing about foreign interference because it was not to its partisan advantage to do anything about it. The Conservative leader is actually admitting to the fact that this nothing more than a partisan issue for them. We reject that premise, and we will protect our democratic institutions for all Canadians.
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Context: House Hansard - 168 - Mar/10/23
Mr. Pierre Paul-Hus (Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, CPC)
  • Mar/10/23 11:23:05 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, clearly, nothing the government did worked. Foreign interference is more widespread in Canada than ever. Now they are talking about a foreign agent registry. This morning, the minister announced he would be holding consultations to decide how to proceed. He said the same thing three months ago. The U.S. has actually had a foreign agent registry since 1938. Australia set one up in 2018. Moreover, senior Privy Council officials recommended setting up a foreign agent registry last year. Why is the Minister of Public Safety now talking about holding more consultations? Who is he going to consult, his friends in China?
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Context: House Hansard - 168 - Mar/10/23
Ms. Jennifer O'Connell (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities, Lib.)
  • Mar/10/23 11:31:07 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is a bit rich coming from the Conservatives. We have heard time and time again that the issue of foreign interference is not new. In fact, it was raised when the Leader of the Opposition was the minister responsible. He actually said that they were not going to do anything in regard to dealing with foreign interference because he felt that it was not in their partisan interest. Meanwhile, we continue to bring public servants, ministers and members of our national security community to the committee because we want to ensure that we are strengthening our democratic institutions while Conservatives play—
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Context: House Hansard - 168 - Mar/10/23
Mr. Maninder Sidhu (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lib.)
  • Mar/10/23 12:04:53 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Whitby for his advocacy. I had the opportunity to accompany the Minister of Foreign Affairs to the G20 in India last week. This was the minister's second trip to India since the release of our Indo-Pacific strategy and we are hitting the ground running. As part of my trip, I had meetings on strengthening cultural and educational ties and met with business groups, like the Indo-Canadian Business Council. Our government will continue strengthening our position in the Indo-Pacific region to unlock economic opportunities for Canadians and grow our strong people-to-people ties.
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