SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 311

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 8, 2024 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 311 - May/8/24
Mr. Garnett Genuis
  • May/8/24 8:58:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will pick up where my colleague ended, which was recognizing the fragility of democracy and freedom. Many of us have lived in this country our whole lives. I have as well. We have never known anything other than the kinds of freedoms we have in this country. That struck me especially when I visited Ukraine in 2016 for its 25th anniversary. Of course, it is more acute now, the sense of the fragility of freedom, but even then, many people over a certain age remembered a time when they did not have their freedom. We have to always keep in focus that the liberty and sovereignty we have as a country is not automatic and not inevitable. The biggest threat to our freedom, sovereignty and security is not the possibility of direct invasion, but what Sun Tzu describes as the attempt to swallow us whole and the loss of meaningful freedom through escalating foreign interference. We have seen in other countries how the gradual process of foreign interference has eroded the ability of free people to make decisions about their own futures. The member is right. Our freedoms are fragile and are under direct threat by foreign interference. We see those threats as members of Parliament, but we also hear about and know about those threats targeting everyday citizens and other institutions. We are already seeing certain institutions that have modified their behaviour in response to the preferences of foreign stakeholders. This is a demonstration of a loss of sovereignty. I hope we all hear this clarion call, especially coming from the diaspora communities, to stand up for Canada, to stand up for our institutions, to stand up for our freedom and to stop this foreign interference.
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Context: House Hansard - 311 - May/8/24
Mrs. Stephanie Kusie
  • May/8/24 10:19:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government can indeed give the excuse that the same thing happens in other countries. During question period in the House, it keeps telling us that this is happening in other countries, but the fact is that I was targeted here in this country. The Canadian government needs to do something about our nation, our sovereignty and our democracy.
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