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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 316

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 23, 2024 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Mr. Alain Therrien (La Prairie, BQ)
  • May/23/24 2:27:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Hogue commission has complained that the Liberals are still keeping foreign interference under wraps. The Prime Minister's Office is invoking cabinet confidence to redact documents and even prevent the judge from having access to them. We are not even talking about the documents that will be published; we are talking about the documents needed for the investigation by the judge, whose mandate is to protect this strategic information. This calls into question the commission's effectiveness. The Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs promised that the judge would have access to all the documents. Does he agree that enough is enough with the secrecy?
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Dominic LeBlanc (Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, Lib.)
  • May/23/24 2:27:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I very much appreciate the question from my friend from the Bloc Québécois. I was pleased to work with him and our opposition colleagues last summer to set up the Hogue commission. He knows very well that we are committed to sharing cabinet information with the commission, at an exceptional time that does not happen very often, as we did with Mr. Johnston. We will always be available to work with the commission so that it has access to all the appropriate documents.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Mr. Alain Therrien (La Prairie, BQ)
  • May/23/24 2:28:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, they cannot help themselves. The reason the Hogue commission was put in place is that the Liberals were covering up foreign interference from day one. The Hogue commission was created to put an end to that. It was created to get to the bottom of things with the help of a neutral, non-partisan judge. The public does not need to read the confidential information, but the judge does. That is part of her mandate. If the commission does not have access to the information, then Quebeckers will lose confidence in this investigation. Will the Liberals finally act responsibly and, more importantly, will they finally be transparent with the judge?
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Dominic LeBlanc (Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, Lib.)
  • May/23/24 2:29:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the answer is yes. We will continue to be transparent and co-operate with the commission. I agree with my colleague. A judge as exceptional as Justice Hogue from the Quebec Court of Appeal is very well positioned to give Canadians confidence in our democratic institutions. Canadians need to understand that the government will always ensure that the commission has access to all the documents needed to do this important work. I really appreciated the work that I was able to do with my friend, the member for La Prairie.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Dominic LeBlanc (Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, Lib.)
  • May/23/24 3:09:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. friend knows very well that there is no obstruction at all. He should have a word with his House leader, with whom I worked very collaboratively all summer in setting up the Hogue Commission. We agreed to all the details of the terms of reference, including the fact that solicitor-client privilege and cabinet confidence were essential things that needed to be protected. Of course, the people who served in Mr. Harper's government would know the attachment he had to those principles, but our government went a step further and made available cabinet documents that were relevant to this inquiry. We will continue to do everything necessary to allow it to do its work.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 9:35:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the current process is one we have been using for a number of years. We want to change it with a commission independent of the government—
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Mr. Martin Champoux
  • May/23/24 10:09:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, will the minister reconsider the decision not to require French-English bilingualism for the commissioners of the future miscarriage of justice review commission, or will French once again be optional in Canada?
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 10:09:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I believe that the creation of this commission is centred on access to justice. In order to have access to justice before this commission, people must be understood, which requires a translation system that—
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