The federal government is continuing to investigate why no minister was made aware of threats from Chinese authorities against Conservative MP Michael Chong, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino said.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Liberal Party’s national convention in Ottawa, he said the possibility of holding someone responsible for the decision was “under consideration”.
Mr. Mendicino says it’s also important to know why this information was not given to his predecessor, Bill Blair, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or Mr. Chong himself.
The government has now made it clear to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) that any information related to parliamentarians must be passed to both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Public Safety, regardless of the confidence of the intelligence agency. espionage in information.
Michael Chong only found out last week, after a report in the Globe and Mail, that CSIS had received information in 2021 that the Chinese government was looking for ways to intimidate him and his extended family in Hong Kong.
Mr Chong had sponsored a motion in the House of Commons calling Beijing’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province a genocide,
Justin Trudeau said CSIS hadn’t told anyone outside of the spy agency what information it had about the threats, but Chong learned the national security adviser had been notified a while ago two years.
The prime minister and former minister Bill Blair maintain they were never told.
Minister Mendicino considers it a “serious problem” that neither Mr. Blair nor Mr. Trudeau were made aware of the situation by CSIS.
The revelation about Mr. Chong is the latest in a series of attempts at foreign interference allegedly made by the Chinese government in Canada in recent years, including efforts to influence the results of the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
All political parties have agreed that any attempted interference will not affect the final outcome of this election, but Trudeau has appointed a special rapporteur to dig into what happened and how Canada should respond.
Former Governor General David Johnston, who was appointed to the post, is due to decide in about three weeks whether a public inquiry is needed and report on all of its findings by the fall.
Opposition parties want to move forward with a public inquiry.
China denies everything, including allegations that one of its Toronto-based diplomats tried to launch a campaign of intimidation against Mr Chong and his family.
“We deplore and reject the baseless slander by the Canadian side on the Chinese diplomatic and consular mission in Canada, which is only carrying out its functions,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said, according to a translation. of the Chinese government.
Mendicino said Canada’s priority is to determine what sanctions should be taken against Chinese representation in the country, including the possibility of expelling diplomats. No decision has yet been made as the federal government weighs its capabilities under international conventions and the possible consequences of expelling diplomats.
“At the top of this hierarchy of priorities is the need to hold those who drive and orchestrate foreign interference accountable for those actions,” he said.
On Thursday, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly summoned the Chinese ambassador to discuss the allegations.
Mr Mendicino said he rejected any accusations from Tories that the government was not taking the issue seriously, and argued that keeping the political rhetoric around foreign interference down was essential to ensure that China or any other foreign actor does not believe that attempts to interfere in Canada will work.
“The purpose of foreign interference is to undermine our democracy, and if you politicize this debate and suggest or attack some sort of wrong motive, you fuel that,” he said.
He assured that foreign interference does not work now nor will it work in the future. “And those who orchestrate these activities of foreign interference must know that they will not succeed. »