Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Government leader, on November 7 reports surfaced of Chinese interference in our 2019 election, alleging that the Prime Minister had been briefed by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS, in January 2020 that 11 federal candidates had been targets of the Chinese Communist Party’s, or CCP’s, interference campaign.

Following these reports, the Prime Minister allowed the world to believe that he raised the issue of Chinese interference with President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit. Now, weeks after the original report surfaced, the Prime Minister claims that he had not been briefed on any federal candidates receiving any money from China.

Senator Gold, the Prime Minister’s incoherence is completely unbefitting of the magnitude of the issue and, indeed, his office. Can you give us some clarity on what the Prime Minister knew and when he knew about it?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. Safeguarding Canada’s electoral system and our institutions is a vital, non-partisan issue that the government takes very seriously. It is understood that the Prime Minister is regularly briefed on security concerns: That’s the job of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has also said that he did not receive briefings on specific candidates or the allegations that particular candidates may have been funded illegally. In that regard, that is his statement.

With regard to the issue, nonetheless, security officials have been asked to follow up on the reports. As confirmed by Minister Mendicino, the government is going to cooperate with the parliamentary committee when it comes to the disclosure of allegations that have been addressed by an independent body. In that regard, it’s worth noting that there have been independent findings that the elections both in 2019 and in 2021 were fair.