Senator Plett: A year ago, leader, I actually received an answer to one of my written questions on the Senate’s Order Paper concerning foreign interference — it doesn’t happen very often. I asked how many Canadians had contacted the RCMP’s National Security Information Network regarding foreign interference. The answer was that — in 2021 alone — over 11,000 calls and emails were received, from which 682 tips were forwarded to the National Security Programme. In January 2022 alone, the RCMP received 873 calls and emails.

It seems to me that for some time now the RCMP has needed more resources to investigate foreign interference, including the harassment and intimidation of Canadians by Beijing’s Communist regime.

Would the RCMP have received this funding if the Prime Minister didn’t need to look as though he is taking the matter seriously?

Senator Gold: The funds that the RCMP is receiving are funds that are necessary to protect Canadians, and allow the RCMP to do its job — as they are faced with increasingly intensive attempts by many state parties and non-state actors to interfere in our institutions, and to sow chaos and mistrust amongst Canadians in the faith of those institutions. That’s the reason why the additional resources are made available to the RCMP, and we have every confidence that they will do their job.