SoVote

Hon. Robert Oliphant (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lib.)

May/8/23 2:36:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I first want to say that there was a lot of heat in the House last week about this issue and not a lot of light. I think what we all, on this side of the House, want to do is express our concern for the member for Wellington—Halton Hills and for every Canadian who could be the subject, the target, of any interference from China, from Russia or from any other country in the world. We will continue to take the steps to ensure that MPs are informed, that Canadians are informed and that we have a safe and secure democracy.

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Context: House Hansard - 192 - May/8/23

Ms. Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona, NDP)

May/8/23 3:56:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is, of course, a very serious issue that I am glad to see the government has finally acted on. However, my concern is that it took weeks of pressure from multiple parties. It took weeks of the member for Wellington—Halton Hills asking for action from the government, yet we did not see this diplomat expelled until just now. I am wondering if the member for Wellington—Halton Hills could talk about a concern that I have, which is how we would know if there were more diplomats. How do we have the transparency and the confidence that this has not been happening with other diplomats or happening in other circumstances to other members and other people within the House?

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Context: House Hansard - 192 - May/8/23

Ms. Rachel Blaney (North Island—Powell River, NDP)

May/8/23 8:11:27 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I deeply appreciate the tone of the member's speech this evening. As a member of PROC, I look forward to having this come before our committee. This is essential work. There are a lot of questions. Over the last few months, Canadians are growing increasingly concerned and afraid. I especially think a lot of the Chinese Canadian population in this country have been warning Canada and different levels of government for a long time that this is a huge concern and that it is not just during elections but it is in between elections. It is looking at all of the realities where interference is taking place. I wonder if this member could talk a bit about his thoughts about how Chinese Canadians have been standing up, the racism and discrimination that they have experienced because of this and what that means for them when they are not consulted on the actual process of foreign interference. The media only seems to focus on asking them specifically about how it feels to be Chinese Canadian, instead of asking, “Where do we need to move as a country to really deal with this issue?” They have a lot of expertise. I just wonder how the member thinks about this.

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Context: House Hansard - 192 - May/8/23

Mr. Adam Chambers

May/8/23 9:38:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that was a very thoughtful question. I share the member's concern about the future of democracy. I would also just reiterate that the briefing note alleges there were multiple members of Parliament. We actually only know of one that has been public. It is possible that there are other members in this chamber who have actually experienced a similar thing. It should concern all members. As for the government's delayed response to some of these issues, I would say that we are hanging a sign out for the rest of the world that tells them what would happen if they meddle in our democracy, and we better be very clear about the signal that we send. We better make it clear that no amount of meddling is appropriate. Let us be honest, there have been countless times over the course of history where governments, maybe even Canadian governments, have gotten involved in the politics of other countries. We should be thinking before we do that. However, I will say that, when it happens here, we pride ourselves on transparency. Now that we know, we must dig more. We owe it to Canadians to dig into this more. We owe it future Canadians and to our democracy to take the sign out that says no meddling is welcome here.

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