SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 169 - Mar/20/23

Mr. Alex Ruff (Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, CPC)

Mar/20/23 12:57:41 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I will ask the minister a very simple, non-partisan question, and I would refer him to the NSICOP annual 2019 report which, in chapter 2, has over 50 pages on foreign interference. Specifically, it has six key findings and three key recommendations, all unredacted and available to the public. This is a report that went straight to the Prime Minister. I have a two-part question. First, why has this government not taken any action on those three recommendations put forth by the non-partisan NSICOP committee? Second, the last recommendation in particular refers to the very first report NSICOP produced around the Prime Minister's trip to India and the allegations tied to that, which reads, “In the interest of national security, members of the House of Commons and the Senate should be briefed upon being sworn-in and regularly thereafter on the risks of foreign interference and extremism in Canada.” I think it would be unfair to ask the minister how many times since the start of the government, but since he has become the Minister of Public Safety, has he personally ensured that opposition members have been briefed, upon being sworn in at the appropriate level, on foreign interference in Canada?

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Context: House Hansard - 169 - Mar/20/23

Mr. Alex Ruff (Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, CPC)

Mar/20/23 1:18:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, in the 2019 annual report of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, the committee recommended to the Prime Minister that MPs should be briefed regularly on foreign interference. I asked the minister the same question earlier in the debate, and he refused to answer. I have a simple question for my colleague from the Bloc. How many times in the past three years has the Bloc Québécois been briefed by the Liberal government on foreign interference in our elections?

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Context: House Hansard - 169 - Mar/20/23

Mr. Alex Ruff (Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, CPC)

Mar/20/23 3:31:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition, and I have presented a very similar petition about 10 times in the House, from constituents calling upon the government to take action to shut down TC Energy's proposed pumped storage project on the 4th Canadian Division Training Centre base in Meaford due to the negative impacts it will have on the environment, the economy and more.

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Context: House Hansard - 169 - Mar/20/23

Mr. Alex Ruff (Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, CPC)

Mar/20/23 4:42:06 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, before I get to my specific question, I do want to quote Sean McFate, The New Rules of War. He wrote, “Secrets and democracy are not compatible.... Democracy thrives in the light of information and transparency”. My colleague spoke about the importance of transparency around that and about the needed action in taking the partisan rhetoric out of it. NSICOP's 2019 annual report to the Prime Minister was tabled here in the House in a redacted form, although the findings and recommendations under its 50 pages tied to foreign interference are all unredacted. It made three recommendations to the government and to the Prime Minister to take moving forward. The third one was something the same committee made to the government in its very first report to the Prime Minister on his trip to India, which was around the need to brief opposition MPs on foreign interference: read them in, get them the appropriate clearances and brief them. I want to ask the member why this has not yet happened. It has been five years since it was first recommended to the Prime Minister.

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