Senator Gold: Senator Batters, colleagues, my job is to answer questions, and I will. It is not to try to school this chamber on the basic elements of how security information is transmitted from CSIS or other agencies through various levels. Nor is it my obligation or desire to remind you that we are still dealing with leaked material, of which we actually have no notice how nuanced it was or wasn’t — published and leaked information that has been taken seriously by this government and acted upon by this government upon its receipt.

With regard to the rest of your question, Senator Batters, the fact remains that this government is taking the steps necessary to protect Canadians from foreign interference. The actions it took in expelling the diplomat and declaring the individual persona non grata sends a strong signal not only to China but also to other countries who seek to interfere with our democratic processes.

Senator Plett: Well, yes, in fact, he is. It is similar to when the Prime Minister says that he isn’t aware of information — the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Katie Telford says that she ensures he receives everything that he needs and that he sees everything.

We have seen this before — as I just mentioned — from the Prime Minister and his government. Nothing is ever their fault — blame the victim, spread misinformation and never apologize unreservedly.

A few days after the SNC-Lavalin scandal was revealed in The Globe and Mail, the Trudeau government engaged in a smear campaign against Jody Wilson-Raybould. The Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs rightly called it blatant sexism.

Minister O’Regan personally attacked veteran Sean Bruyea in a newspaper column. Vice-Admiral Mark Norman never received an apology for what the Trudeau government put him through.

Senator Gold: Thank you for your question. It is one thing to stand up, as oppositions do, to demand information that is classified, would be against the law and is against the law to publicly disclose. That is the partisan prerogative of this opposition.

The fact remains that the Government of Canada, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs learned of this a week ago. Proper, prudent steps were taken to determine and evaluate the allegations that were made — again, I repeat — by leaked, not necessarily nuanced documents of a classified nature. The government, as Minister Joly also said, had a responsibility to the Canadians in China and to those here, as well as to the economic interests of those farmers and other producers whose livelihoods depend upon their continued access to markets in China, to at least assess the consequences that the government took, and properly so, in declaring this diplomat persona non grata.

The process took a week. It was done properly, in conformity with the Vienna Convention, in consultation with our allies, on whom we depend, to make sure that what happened to the two Michaels and reprisals against our farmers and producers would not be repeated.