SoVote

May/8/24 10:37:34 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague from Manitoba that we do need to get the issue to PROC. We need a fulsome investigation on who dropped the ball, why the government has not taken it seriously and why parliamentarians are being threatened by the People's Republic of China. We need to make sure the Communist regime in Beijing does not try to continue to get secrets from parliamentarians. I think it comes down to the fact that we are dealing with issues surrounding national security. It is not just about political operations or partisan issues. For those of us who were targeted, it is because we belong to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China. We are always there trying to counter the threats, as well as the human rights abuses and gross violations, that are happening through the corrupt officials who are part of the Communist regime in Beijing.

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Context: House Hansard - 311 - May/8/24

Mr. Tom Kmiec

May/8/24 11:06:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member raises a very good point. It is possible that one of the reasons the government chose not to inform us, those 18 of us who were targeted, is not just because the attacks did not succeed but also because there would have been an expectation from us, and calls by us, for sanctions on the people, organizations and governments that were doing this. This is, again, not something new. The government of Beijing has targeted Hong Kong democracy activists in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Canada as well. There are many Hong Kong diaspora community members who are fearful even of taking pictures with us. I have been to community groups. I have been to community meetings where people jump out of the photo. It is not for partisan purposes because they are not voters in this country. It is not that they have friends who are Conservative or New Democrat or Liberal. That is not the case. They plainly tell me that they are worried about a picture being posted online, with me specifically, it being distributed out there, and people seeing that they are both in Canada and hanging out with this particular Conservative politician. I am sure the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan gets the same treatment. That is a worrying trend. The government does not seem to be taking the protection of these people seriously.

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Context: House Hansard - 311 - May/8/24

Mr. Michael Cooper

May/8/24 11:35:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a good question, and it really does raise questions as to whether other members have been targeted. Have other members been targeted in other cyber-attacks by the Beijing-based Communist regime or by other hostile foreign states, of which this government is aware and has not informed members? If that is the case, then it is incumbent on this government to do what it has failed to do up until now, and that is to follow the directive, which seems to be a hollow directive, a meaningless directive, a directive that is not acted upon, and inform all members affected.

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Context: House Hansard - 311 - May/8/24

Mr. Michael Cooper

May/8/24 11:38:35 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I would submit that it is an instance that is a part of the pattern of a government that has not taken these threats seriously. The Liberals have turned a blind eye, they have downplayed it and they have been reluctant to take measures to counter foreign interference. It was only after Madam Justice Hogue's first report was issued, for example, that they finally introduced legislation to introduce, among other things, a foreign influence registry. To be charitable to them, it is ambivalence and it is a lack of seriousness, but it could be much worse than that. It could be that this is, frankly, a government that has, at times, sort of welcomed Beijing's interference and at the very least, for political and other reasons, has been unwilling to stand up to Beijing.

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