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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 189

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 2, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 189 - May/2/23
Mr. Yves-François Blanchet (Beloeil—Chambly, BQ)
  • May/2/23 2:28:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have to admit that I do not understand what part of the Leader of the Opposition's questions was not true. I therefore support the Leader of the Opposition's questions. I have a question for the Prime Minister of a country that China holds in such contempt that it sees it as an easy target. If the person responsible for Pierre Elliott Trudeau's legacy at the Trudeau Foundation were to be called in for questioning by the CRA, the committee or whoever, would the Prime Minister recuse himself from participating in any way—
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The Speaker
  • May/2/23 2:29:07 p.m.
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The right hon. Prime Minister.
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Right Hon. Justin Trudeau (Prime Minister, Lib.)
  • May/2/23 2:29:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I can assure the Bloc Québécois leader that, here in Canada, we have robust institutions that ensure political interference in our judicial processes and our rigorous regulatory processes is neither facilitated nor allowed. In any of these hypothetical scenarios, legal processes would proceed as necessary.
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Mr. Yves-François Blanchet (Beloeil—Chambly, BQ)
  • May/2/23 2:29:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, here we go again. If a competent authority, be it the committee, the CRA or any other entity—who knows—were to look into possible irregularities on the part of the Prime Minister's brother, would he consider the possibility that he is not qualified to make decisions with respect to an independent public inquiry into Chinese interference?
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Right Hon. Justin Trudeau (Prime Minister, Lib.)
  • May/2/23 2:30:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, despite the best efforts of the leader of the Bloc Québécois over the past few weeks, one fact has not changed, not in all these weeks, and not in 10 years. That is the fact that I have had no direct or indirect involvement in the operations of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.
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Mr. Jagmeet Singh (Burnaby South, NDP)
  • May/2/23 2:30:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Beijing government targeted a member of this House and targeted not only the member but the member's family. The Prime Minister knew about this and did nothing. Frankly, I am disappointed. This goes beyond partisan politics. This is about the ability for people in this House to be able to vote their conscience. Why did the Prime Minister not inform the member that his family was being threatened? What will the Prime Minister commit to doing to make sure this never happens again?
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Right Hon. Justin Trudeau (Prime Minister, Lib.)
  • May/2/23 2:31:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it would be outrageous for anyone in this House to see a direct threat at an individual sitting in this House or to their family and do nothing and that did not happen. I will be absolutely unequivocal about that and that is why we were pleased to be able to offer a full briefing to the member for Wellington—Halton Hills so he could ask questions of the top intelligence officials and ensure that we will continue as institutions, as a government and as security services to do everything necessary to keep Canadians safe.
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Mr. Jagmeet Singh (Burnaby South, NDP)
  • May/2/23 2:31:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, honestly, that is hard to take. Clearly, this government could not care less about the damage caused by its inaction on foreign interference. Clearly, the Prime Minister must have known that the member's family was facing threats abroad. What will it take for this Prime Minister to take action and immediately launch a public inquiry?
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Right Hon. Justin Trudeau (Prime Minister, Lib.)
  • May/2/23 2:32:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have been taking action since 2015. When we hosted the G7 in 2018, we created a mechanism with our allies to fight interference. In 2019, we set up a committee of national security experts to safeguard the integrity of our elections. We also created a committee of parliamentarians to examine security and intelligence matters, as well as a review committee within the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency. We are still doing everything necessary with an independent expert responsible for looking into all matters related to—
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The Speaker
  • May/2/23 2:33:02 p.m.
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The hon. member for Wellington—Halton Hills.
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Hon. Michael Chong (Wellington—Halton Hills, CPC)
  • May/2/23 2:33:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government has had 24 hours to get some basic facts about PRC diplomats targeting of MPs, but here is my question. On September 10, 2019, the public safety minister issued a directive to CSIS ordering the service to inform the minister of any matter or action of interest to the minister. When was the public safety minister or his office first made aware that a PRC diplomat, Mr. Wei Zhao, was targeting me or my family?
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Hon. Marco Mendicino (Minister of Public Safety, Lib.)
  • May/2/23 2:34:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as this is the first occasion that the member for Wellington—Halton Hills has risen since this matter was brought to the attention of the public and this chamber, I want to express solidarity to him and to his family. We will continue to work with him and all parliamentarians to make sure he and all parliamentarians get the support they need. Since the outset, when we took the reins of government, we have been vigilant in fighting against foreign interference. We have put in place the people, the resources, the tools and the oversight, as the Prime Minister just said, to defend our institutions. We will do that work together.
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The Speaker
  • May/2/23 2:34:36 p.m.
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Before we go to the next question, I want to remind hon. members that calling each other names is not parliamentary language. The hon. member for Wellington—Halton Hills.
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Hon. Michael Chong (Wellington—Halton Hills, CPC)
  • May/2/23 2:34:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the directive of September 10, 2019, is clear. It says: The Service has a duty to inform the Minister of any such matter as is relevant to enable the Minister to fulfill the Minister’s accountabilities as outlined in the CSIS Act. In general terms, the Minister expects to be consulted or informed regarding any action on which a Deputy Head would normally involve his or her Minister. My question, again, is very simple. When did the public safety minister or his office first become aware that a PRC diplomat was targeting a member of the House and their family?
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Hon. Marco Mendicino (Minister of Public Safety, Lib.)
  • May/2/23 2:35:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague across the aisle for highlighting the directive that this government has put in place to ensure transparency and accountability around decisions, which are taken independently by our non-partisan professional public servants when it comes to which classified information is made public and which must remain classified to protect the people who work in that space. This is not a partisan issue. We must all work together to defend the institutions, the communities and, most important, the parliamentarians who serve those institutions to protect our democracy.
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Ms. Melissa Lantsman (Thornhill, CPC)
  • May/2/23 2:36:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what a gutless response. What if that happened to that minister's family? I have the same question. When did he know?
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Hon. Marco Mendicino (Minister of Public Safety, Lib.)
  • May/2/23 2:36:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I have just said, it is our non-partisan independent public servants who make decisions around operations, including which classified information is made public, and for good reason. It is important that we protect the people who work in those institutions, not only to protect our national security but to protect the people who work within these institutions, including parliamentarians. Let me just say that it is outrageous to make the claim that any member of Parliament would stand for any attack on any parliamentarian. We are united in fighting against foreign interference.
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Ms. Melissa Lantsman (Thornhill, CPC)
  • May/2/23 2:37:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when did he know?
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Hon. Marco Mendicino (Minister of Public Safety, Lib.)
  • May/2/23 2:37:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague can continue to ask the same question and she will get the same answer. It is this government that has raised the bar on transparency, when it comes to protecting our institutions, by creating a committee of parliamentarians, by creating NSIRA. By the way, I would point out the Conservatives had nearly 10 years to create those institutions and they never did. Rather than suggesting that we stand up, I suggest they now stand up and get behind the cause of the government so we can protect all parliamentarians and our institutions.
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Mr. Luc Berthold (Mégantic—L'Érable, CPC)
  • May/2/23 2:37:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on September 10, 2019, CSIS received a ministerial directive to inform the minister of public safety of any disturbing fact concerning foreign interference. I will ask the Minister of Public Safety a simple question: When did he learn that a Beijing diplomat was threatening a member of the House?
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