Justin Trudeau’s government has been aware for “months” of the existence of Chinese “police stations” across the country, and not just in Quebec, said the Prime Minister, who assures that the RCMP and the services of information is on file.
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“This is an issue that concerns us enormously and it underlines the extent to which the primary targets of foreign interference are precisely the communities of the diaspora, the communities of Chinese or Iranian origin who are here in Canada,” said underlined Mr. Trudeau.
After the existence of already known investigations into three Chinese “police stations” in Vancouver and Toronto, The Journal of Montreal revealed Thursday that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) had their eyes on two such establishments in Quebec.
Both are located in the greater Montreal area: the Center Sino-Québec de la Rive-Sud, in Brossard, and the Chinese Family Service of Greater Montreal, in Chinatown, very close to Old Montreal.
For the leader of the Bloc Québécois, this is “one more reason” for the Prime Minister to launch a public and independent inquiry into Chinese or foreign interference.
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“Nothing says at this time that it played a role in the last election. Our fear is that it will play a role in the next election, and in the context of a minority government, a next election, we don’t know when,” said Yves-François Blanchet on the sidelines of a press briefing in Parliament.
Mr. Blanchet opposes the unilateral appointment by the Trudeau government of a “special rapporteur”, and believes that all elected officials of the Commons should have their say.
The oppositions have already submitted a list of names to the government, confirmed Liberal House Leader Mark Holland.
According to Mr. Blanchet, setting up a public and independent inquiry would also allow Justin Trudeau to “return to the management of the affairs of the State”, because for the moment, “he is only trying to extricate himself from a political crisis that […] is very serious for the Canadian state and for the sense of security of our institutions”.