SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 168

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 10, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 168 - Mar/10/23
Ms. Pam Damoff (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety, Lib.)
  • Mar/10/23 11:22:32 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, we take allegations of foreign interference or intimidation in Canada very seriously. That is why the RCMP is investigating. We use all tools at our disposal to address interference and protect Canadians, including investigations and charges by law enforcement, diplomatic levers such as withholding visas, and examining new tools such as a foreign influence transparency registry. Everyone should feel safe in this country, and we will exhaust all efforts to protect them from unacceptable behaviour by hostile authoritarian states.
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Context: House Hansard - 168 - Mar/10/23
Ms. Pam Damoff (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety, Lib.)
  • Mar/10/23 11:23:43 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I was pleased to be there today when the Minister of Public Safety announced that we would launch consultations on the creation of a Canadian foreign influence transparency registry. This is only one of the tools we are using to combat foreign interference, which is meant to create chaos in this country, but we want to make sure we get it right. We will be consulting with Canadians from across the country. The consultation will close on May 9, and I encourage Canadians to take part. When it comes to hostile states, we will always move with our eyes wide open.
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Context: House Hansard - 168 - Mar/10/23
Ms. Pam Damoff (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety, Lib.)
  • Mar/10/23 11:33:26 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will remind the House that Canadians and Canadians alone determined the outcomes of the 2019 and the 2021 elections. We will use every tool available to us, unlike the Harper Conservative government, which did nothing to create an oversight committee of parliamentarians. It was one of our first acts as government. NSICOP is a committee of parliamentarians that provides oversight. The U.K. has had one since 1994. We were late to the game, but we did it when we formed government, unlike the opposition.
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Context: House Hansard - 168 - Mar/10/23
Ms. Pam Damoff (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety, Lib.)
  • Mar/10/23 11:42:32 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am extremely upset about the way that NSICOP is portrayed by the opposition. It was created by an act of Parliament. It was debated at committee. It was passed in this House. It has members from all parties. They are privy to top secret information, which keeps our country safe. That is why they are not allowed to divulge it. To portray it as a secret committee is wrong, and it is misleading Canadians. It was created by Parliament, and I am very proud of the work that it does.
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Context: House Hansard - 168 - Mar/10/23
Ms. Pam Damoff (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety, Lib.)
  • Mar/10/23 11:43:43 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the committee is independent. In fact, two members of the official opposition sit on that committee, as well as members of the Senate and other opposition parties. While the report is given to the Prime Minister, I would remind hon. members that it is also tabled with the public safety committee annually. We review it, and in fact, the legislation says that if the Prime Minister asks for any changes to that report, this has to be reported to Parliament.
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Context: House Hansard - 168 - Mar/10/23
Ms. Pam Damoff (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety, Lib.)
  • Mar/10/23 11:52:14 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would remind the House again that the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians is not a secret committee. I would also provide this House with a list of some of the things we have done. We appointed an independent panel to review the 2019 and 2021 elections, and it found that both of those elections were free and fair. The Prime Minister announced that he is going to appoint an independent expert as special rapporteur, to review the elections and to see if there were any gaps that we need to fix. Today, we announced that we would have a foreign influence registry—
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