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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 329

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 11, 2024 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 329 - Jun/11/24
Mr. Michael Cooper (St. Albert—Edmonton, CPC)
  • Jun/11/24 7:20:06 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the cover-up continues. The Prime Minister covered up Beijing's interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections, because it benefited the Liberal Party. When he got caught, the Prime Minister went to extraordinary lengths to cover up what he knew and what he failed to do about Beijing's interference. When the procedure and House affairs committee commenced hearings to get to the bottom of Beijing's interference, the Prime Minister repeatedly ordered Liberal MPs on the committee to obstruct the work of the committee and to block the production of relevant documents. Instead of calling a public inquiry, the Prime Minister appointed a long-standing family friend as his fake rapporteur to write a whitewash of a report exonerating the Prime Minister. When the fake rapporteur got to work, he hired a bunch of Liberal hacks who wrote that whitewash of a report that the Prime Minister wanted. However, when the report was not able to be held up to basic scrutiny, the fake rapporteur resigned and the Prime Minister was dragged kicking and screaming into calling a public inquiry. Upon the inquiry being struck, the Minister of Public Safety assured Canadians that the commissioner, Madam Justice Hogue, would have access to all relevant documents. It turns out that the minister was insincere with his words, because The Globe and Mail has reported that the Prime Minister has withheld an undisclosed number of documents from Madam Justice Hogue. The Prime Minister's personal department, the PCO, has admitted that of the documents turned over to Madam Justice Hogue, fully 10% have been redacted. I underscore that these are documents that Madam Justice Hogue has requested. The Prime Minister is obstructing the work of Madam Justice Hogue to fulfill her core mandate, which is to determine what the Prime Minister knew, when he knew about it, and what he did or failed to do about foreign interference threats, including Beijing's attack on our democracy. Madam Justice Hogue issued her first report a few weeks ago. It is a damning indictment of the Prime Minister. Among the conclusions that she makes is that the Prime Minister made decisions with respect to countering foreign interference on the basis of giving consideration to direct electoral consequences. In other words, the Prime Minister put his interests and the interests of the Liberal Party ahead of working to counter foreign interference to protect our sovereignty and our democracy. That was based on the documents that the Prime Minister allowed Madam Justice Hogue to see. One can only imagine how much more damning her report would have been had she been able to see all of the documents. Now, as Madam Justice Hogue prepares to write a second report, to be issued in the coming months, the cover-up continues. If the Prime Minister has nothing to hide, then why will he not stop the obstruction, stop the cover-up and turn over all of the documents requested by Madam Justice Hogue?
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Context: House Hansard - 329 - Jun/11/24
Mr. Michael Cooper
  • Jun/11/24 7:27:50 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the parliamentary secretary is misrepresenting the facts to the extent that he suggested that all relevant documents have been turned over to Madam Justice Hogue. The procedure and House affairs committee passed a motion to get to the bottom of the Prime Minister's obstruction with respect to turning over documents. On June 7, counsel to Madam Justice Hogue wrote to the committee, stating, “the interest of the commission and the interest of the committee would appear to align.” In short, the Commissioner agrees with the committee that the Prime Minister needs to turn over the documents. The Prime Minister cannot pick and choose which documents to turn over to Madam Justice Hogue, because a core aspect of what she is examining is the Prime Minister's conduct, the decisions that he made and, frankly, his failures to protect our sovereignty and democracy from foreign interference. It begs this question: What is it in the documents that is so damning to the Prime Minister that he is hiding them from Madam Justice Hogue?
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