(OTTAWA) Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre is ripping apart the trio of measures announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to shed light on foreign interference during the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Yves-François Blanchet, was no more tender, worrying in passing about the image that this crisis sends back to Canada’s partners in the world.
At a press briefing in the foyer of the House of Commons on Tuesday, Mr. Poilievre insisted that only a public and independent inquiry can provide Canadians with the answers to the many questions they have about the role played by the China in the last two elections.
“Justin Trudeau is doing the exact opposite. He wants a process that is secret and controlled. He wants it to be secret […] because he does not want Canadians to know the truth. He knows that it will implicate him in the scandal of the interference of the authoritarian government in Beijing, ”supported the conservative leader.
He added that the only investigation the prime minister wants is one by the security services into who leaked information contained in secret documents over the past few weeks to the daily. The Globe and Mail.
“The only investigation he wants is one that targets whistleblowers. That’s Justin Trudeau’s priority. It is not to protect our democracy from foreign interference. It is to protect ourselves politically by targeting and destroying the brave whistleblowers who have published these secrets,” he asserted.
He added that his party will keep the pressure on the prime minister on this file until he sets up an independent public inquiry.
“Potential damage” to the image of Canada
PHOTO PATRICK DOYLE, THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Yves Francois Blanchet
When Justin Trudeau received the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in Kingston, the leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, worried about the consequences of the crisis on Canada’s image with its Western allies. .
“What is the message that the Canadian government, that the Prime Minister, is giving to our allies, to Europe. in NATO, in the United States, by being weak and complacent in the face of the intrusion and hostile interference of a foreign dictatorship in the democracy of a member country of NATO and the G7? “, he exposed, Tuesday.
“There is potential damage to the trust and the quality of the relationship that Canada has with its allies,” added the leader at a press briefing in parliament, adding that the Prime Minister must demonstrate the “firmness and robustness its backbone” in a tense international context.
Especially since “at present, the Chinese government is patting itself on the thighs while watching what is happening in Canada”, noting the success of its operation, dropped Mr. Blanchet, profusely mocking the creature imagined by the Prime Minister, this “independent special rapporteur”.
The Bloc leader nevertheless insisted on the fact that this person had to be chosen unanimously by the parties represented in the House. And according to him, his conclusion cannot be other than that of the triggering of a public and independent inquiry into foreign interference.
Special Rapporteur and closed-door investigation
Trying to calm criticism from opposition parties and reassure Canadians, Justin Trudeau announced Monday night the creation of a special rapporteur on foreign interference, the opening of an investigation – behind closed doors – , and the launch of consultations on the creation of a register of foreign agents.
But there is no question yet, at least for the moment, of launching the public inquiry, despite the insistent demands of the opposition parties.
PHOTO SEAN KILPATRICK, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Justin Trudeau
The Prime Minister is relying on a “prominent Canadian” to advise him on whether or not to hold such a public inquiry into foreign interference during the last two federal elections, in 2019 and 2021.
The independent rapporteur “will have a broad mandate to make specialized recommendations on the protection of our democracy”, he announced in the company of a quartet of ministers at a press conference in parliament on Monday.
“Some argue that a public inquiry is the necessary next step”, and “others have pointed out the flaws and challenges” of such an exercise, but “whether it is an inquiry or a judicial review, and no matter what the scope of this work might be,” the Liberals will comply, he promised.
The Prime Minister has also asked the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency and the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, whose members he appoints, to study the stakes.
This committee is chaired by Liberal MP David McGuinty. It is made up of three elected Liberals, two Conservatives, a Bloc member, a New Democrat and an independent senator. All hold Top Secret security clearances and are permanently bound to secrecy. In addition to these two measures, there is the official launch of consultations surrounding the establishment of a register of foreign agents.
Those who were hoping for a final decision from the Prime Minister regarding the opening of a public and independent inquiry into foreign interference in Canadian elections are therefore still unhappy. Granting this request would have been a “politically fairly easy decision”, argued Justin Trudeau, but according to him, the “credibility” of the exercise could have been damaged if he had had to manage the documents that could be disclosed.
The Prime Minister has undertaken to consult the other parties for the appointment of the rapporteur.