44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 9, 2023 10:00AM
- May/9/23 1:29:29 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I am glad to find out that the member has a seat on the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, because I have some questions. What would make a Prime Minister ignore recommendations and special security intelligence concerning Canada? It all seems very alarming. I mean, is it not essential to listen to what CSIS has to say? How are we supposed to perform our duties as members if the recommendations made by the agencies created to protect us and keep us safe are ignored?
As a member of this committee, is my colleague not tempted to ask questions and make sure that the integrity of the role of member of Parliament is protected?
118 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/9/23 2:32:03 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the member opposite knows full well that operational independence is a pillar of our democracy. We put our confidence in the RCMP and our national security apparatus to protect our communities from foreign interference.
Instead of misguided statements like the one the member opposite just said, he should put the work into protecting our institutions, including the people in this chamber. All of that is built on the foundation of the work this government has been doing since we took the reins in 2015.
86 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/9/23 2:33:15 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, as long as we get the same questions, Conservatives will get the same answers.
The RCMP has taken decisive action in the foreign interference relationship to these so-called police stations and, going forward, will take the necessary steps to protect our communities.
Conservatives talk about apathy. They were apathetic for a decade when they held the reins of government, and they could have put in place the tools, measures and resources they are now asking the government to do. We are doing that work. They need to stop with the politicization, stop with the claims of political interference and get behind the work this government is doing.
110 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/9/23 2:34:36 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, here is the record of action that this government has taken. We declared the foreign agent persona non grata. That person is now on his way out of Canada. We have put hundreds of millions of dollars into the national security apparatus to give it the tools it needs to protect our communities against foreign interference.
Rather than continue to politicize this issue and make claims around apathy, Conservatives should take a look in the mirror at their own record, where for 10 years they did none of the work they are now asking the government to do. The difference is that we are doing it. We are protecting our institutions, and we are protecting the people in them.
121 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/9/23 3:12:45 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I share the hon. member's concern to make sure that we continue to protect vulnerable renters. That is why our government introduced the groundbreaking Canada housing benefit that is delivering rental supports to tens of thousands of vulnerable renters across the country. In addition to that, we introduced a top-up to the Canada housing benefit that has gone on to almost a million Canadians.
We will continue to make sure that we are there for Canadian renters. We will do our part to prevent renovictions and the financialization of housing. Part of it is also building more rentals through the rental construction financing initiative through the national housing strategy.
113 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/9/23 11:36:10 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise tonight in the House once again to represent the people of the North Okanagan—Shuswap.
I will also state that it is even more of an honour to rise on this occasion to speak on the important ruling of the matter of privilege raised by my colleague, the member for Wellington—Halton Hills. In this ruling, the Speaker found a prima facie case of breach of privilege. It is an honour to stand here tonight and speak to defending our democracy in Canada, for Canada and for freedom and democracy everywhere.
I do not know if anyone in the House ever takes for granted the significance of our roles here to carry out the business of one of the freest countries in the world. I know that I never take it for granted; what an honour it is to defend our freedoms. They are the very reason we are here as elected representatives of the common people, freely elected through a democratic process and not appointed by a dictatorship.
We are here as elected representatives because the voters in our communities have entrusted us to carry out the democratic process without undue influence of money, undue influence of power and, especially, inappropriate influence or threats to our families. However, that is why we are here tonight, late at night, debating a point of privilege raised by one of us. A fellow parliamentarian was fairly elected through our democratic process, and this member has learned of alleged attempted influence on him through his family.
There was a report in The Globe and Mail on May 1. It claimed that there were CSIS documents from 2021 stating that the Communist government of China sees Canada as a prime target for interference. That report also stated that the family of the Conservative MP for Wellington—Halton Hills was targeted by a Chinese diplomat, Zhao Wei, because of how the hon. member had voted on a motion in the House.
The Prime Minister claimed that the note did not leave the CSIS office; top security officials have confirmed that this claim is false. The note was widely dispersed among government departments and the Prime Minister's national security adviser. In addition, The Canadian Press published a story earlier this week saying that, despite what the Minister of Public Safety claims, Chinese police stations are still operating in Quebec.
What is most troubling about this situation is that we, as elected members, continued to come to the House to work in our democratic process for almost two years after CSIS raised the alert about this foreign attack on our democracy. We believed that, in a democratic country, we were safe from intimidation as elected members. From this report and subsequent releases, we learned that the threats and intimidation occurred almost two years ago, and yet the member directly affected was not informed until he learned of it in the news, nor were the remainder of parliamentarians alerted to the threat.
These alleged threats to the family of a member do more than just influencing one member of the House. Any attack on one member is an attack on all members of the House, as well as an attack on the rule of law and on Canada's democracy overall.
I cannot imagine the stress that the hon. member for Wellington—Halton Hills must be going through knowing what has happened. Family is our sanctity. It should always be the reason for doing what is right. It should never be the reason for feeling threatened or pressured into doing something we know is wrong.
It has been two years since the government became aware that the MP and his family were being targeted by the regime in Beijing, and a full week after the information became public. We have learned now that the government has finally made the decision that should have been made on the day it found out about this attack on a member of the House of Commons.
It is unacceptable that the government has known that an MP and his family had been targeted by the Communist regime in Beijing for two years and it did not inform the member or the members in this House about the threats posed to that member's family. It is even further unacceptable that the government continued to provide diplomatic immunity for an agent of Beijing for two years after learning he was using his position to harass Canadians and their families.
Chinese Canadians and all Canadians across the country deserve to know that the government takes their safety and security seriously. While the government has finally taken action against the diplomat who threatened the member of Parliament, it has failed to shut down Beijing's police stations operating in Canada and failed to protect members of the community from harassment and intimidation. We know the government is slow to respond to threats to our security, and this must change. It took it years to respond to concern over Huawei's influence on the 5G network, something our allies had acted upon much earlier. The government lagged behind and, no doubt, caused concerns for our allies' joint security because of Canada's failure to act.
The fact that this interference ever occurred and it took this long to take action is proof of the government's incompetence in fulfilling its basic responsibility to protect Canadians. The government must take the other steps that the House voted on this week, including a public inquiry that will lay out what the government knew about Beijing's interference in our democratic process. This is the bare minimum it must do in order to restore any amount of trust from Canadians of any and all races, ethnic backgrounds, religions and spiritual beliefs so they will be free from undue foreign government interference. I fear for what could happen to us as Canadians and freedom across the world should the government fail to act.
It is very late and there may not be many people in this country watching at home right now, but my hope is that Canadians across the country will be watching and listening and will hold the government accountable, especially its leadership, for its actions and especially its inaction on issues like this that threaten Canada's security and the freedoms that people from around the world migrate to and aspire to. My hope is that Canadians and people around the world will be watching and will hold the government accountable.
1097 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
