44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 10, 2023 10:00AM
- Mar/10/23 11:18:32 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, just because the Conservatives continue to repeat this narrative does not actually make it true. We have taken the issue of foreign interference incredibly seriously since we formed government. In fact, foreign interference was raised when the Leader of the Opposition was the minister responsible, but what did he do? He did absolutely nothing. That is why, when we came into office, we made sure our democratic institutions were built strong and robust to protect Canadians from threats of foreign interference.
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- Mar/10/23 11:19:54 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have outlined on numerous occasions all of the measures we have continued to take to address the issues of foreign interference, but let me introduce a fact to that hon. member. It was just this week the Leader of the Opposition said that, of course, the previous Conservative government did nothing about foreign interference because it was not to its partisan advantage to do anything about it. The Conservative leader is actually admitting to the fact that this nothing more than a partisan issue for them. We reject that premise, and we will protect our democratic institutions for all Canadians.
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- Mar/10/23 11:21:22 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am really glad the member opposite raised the fact that everyone has a responsibility to deal with foreign interference. I want to ask the Leader of the Opposition to unmuzzle himself to talk about the fact his own caucus members were involved with meeting with far-right organizations after CSIS has warned that domestic foreign interference in our elections is a very real threat. Will the members opposite and the opposition leader become unmuzzled to actually condemn his front bench today?
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- Mar/10/23 11:29:49 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am glad that the member opposite raised the issues that are happening at the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. PROC is doing incredible work to try to do the work of Canadians.
Members opposite can laugh. It is no surprise that when we actually had ministers there, again, to answer questions for Canadians, all the Conservatives could do was make misogynistic cracks and take digs at them, suggesting that a female minister could not possibly do their job in dealing with foreign interference.
At PROC, we are focused on doing the hard work and asking the questions of Canadians while they continue to spread their misogyny—
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- Mar/10/23 11:31:07 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is a bit rich coming from the Conservatives. We have heard time and time again that the issue of foreign interference is not new.
In fact, it was raised when the Leader of the Opposition was the minister responsible. He actually said that they were not going to do anything in regard to dealing with foreign interference because he felt that it was not in their partisan interest. Meanwhile, we continue to bring public servants, ministers and members of our national security community to the committee because we want to ensure that we are strengthening our democratic institutions while Conservatives play—
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- Mar/10/23 11:32:12 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, on the contrary, we continue to do the work of Parliament by adding meetings to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs so that we can continue to have as many meetings as possible.
We are working even when we are on constituency weeks because we find this issue so important. Our members are willing to be there to bring ministers back again. We brought public servants and the national security community back. We want to ensure that Canadians get the answers.
Conservatives continue to play partisan games. We are not going to let that get in the way of the very real work that we have to do to strengthen our institutions.
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- Mar/10/23 11:37:54 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, we do not share the pessimism of the Bloc member. In fact, we are working with the Quebec government now to ensure that the infrastructure dollars that are allocated to the province are actually being spent.
Our goal is to ensure that infrastructure dollars allocated for the province of Quebec are not line items on a budget somewhere. We want to see shovels in the ground, projects being built and jobs being created. That is why we are working with our counterparts to do just that.
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- Mar/10/23 11:39:07 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, our objective is to ensure that good, quality infrastructure projects are built in the province of Quebec. The minister is working aggressively with his counterpart to identify those projects. We need the Quebec government to put forward those projects so we can release the money.
We want to see the jobs and the infrastructure have the funding that is desired in Quebec, and we are going to keep working with our counterparts until all that money is allocated.
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- Mar/10/23 11:40:07 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, that could not be further from the truth. Let me reiterate that we trust our public servants and the national security community. Do members know what the national security community said? That it was Canadians, and Canadians alone, who determine the outcome of our elections.
While the Conservatives have already identified that they see this as a partisan issue, we do not. We are working incredibly hard to support our national security community to ensure that our institutions are robust and that only Canadians determine the outcome of our elections.
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- Mar/10/23 11:41:19 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am glad the member opposite talked about this issue again because I find it a bit rich. The Conservatives seem to be talking out of both sides of their mouths now. The Leader of the Opposition allows his MPs to cozy up to far-right members of foreign governments. They supported the convoy, which we know involved foreign funding, and then they grandstand about the impacts of foreign interference without actually condemning it among their own benches. If members care about Canadian democracy, they should call it out in their benches.
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- Mar/10/23 11:48:25 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, as I have said before, the work that PROC is doing on this file has included recalling witnesses, ministers, public servants and members of the national security committee, all to talk about this very important issue because we take it so seriously.
It has already been confirmed in the House that the leader of the opposition sees this as nothing more than a partisan issue. While we are focused on ensuring that our institutions are strong, Conservatives continue to play games at committee and to take political cheap shots, instead of doing the work that Canadians sent them here to do.
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- Mar/10/23 11:51:01 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have a fairy tale to talk about, as well, on this issue. This week, the Leader of the Opposition said that of course the previous Conservative government did nothing about foreign interference, because it was not to its partisan advantage to do anything about it.
While the Conservatives have clearly demonstrated that they want to play games and to not take this seriously, we feel that their actions are reckless, when it comes to national security. That is why we are going to do the serious work, at committee and in the House, to ensure our institutions are strengthened.
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