44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 4, 2023 10:00AM
- May/4/23 3:16:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. We are looking for some consistency in the Speaker's rulings.
On March 31, 2023, in this House, the Liberal Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities said:
Madam Speaker, I am absolutely disgusted that the member opposite would outright lie, and yes, I am saying “outright lie”.
Later on, when asked by the Speaker to withdraw that statement, the same parliamentary secretary said:
Madam Speaker, I will withdraw the word but the sentiment remains, that it absolutely did not—
She was then cut off because of the noise in the room.
The point is that there should be consistency in rulings from the Chair. That member was not sanctioned, nor was time taken away from the Liberal Party. That person was not threatened with being kicked out of this House or any similar type of sanction. We want consistency in the rulings from the Chair so that we understand how we can and are able to conduct ourselves in this place.
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- May/4/23 3:18:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have heard many times in this place that one cannot do indirectly what one cannot do directly. By saying that she withdrew the word but not the sentiment, she doubled down on what she was saying and on the remark she had made.
I need no lessons from the parliamentary secretary—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- May/4/23 3:19:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am conflicted as to whether the parliamentary secretary was saying that I do not know my job or do not know how to address the Speaker. I am talking to the Speaker, the Chair of these proceedings. My statement is that one cannot do indirectly what one should not do directly. Saying “I withdraw the word but not the sentiment” is doubling down on those words.
We all know it. However, this member was in no way sanctioned for the comments made on March 31, 2023.
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- May/4/23 3:26:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, just for clarity, we do respect your authority. I agree that you are here in this place to bring order, sometimes from chaos, and we respect those decisions. The issue was about consistency, so I leave it at that.
This point of order that I rise on is another serious point of order to address two incidents that took place during the course of debate on the opposition day motion earlier today. As the Chair knows, the House is debating a Conservative motion that addresses the serious threats made against the family of the member for Wellington—Halton Hills.
The statements I am about to bring to your attention, Mr. Speaker, centre around one defensive briefing provided by CSIS to the member for Wellington—Halton Hills about foreign interference two years ago. The member was actually in the House today during question period. It is important to note that the member for Wellington—Halton Hills has been clear in his public comments that the threats made to his family were never made known to him in the briefing two years ago. The only specific briefing he received happened this week and only after the matter became news reported by The Globe and Mail. However, during the debate, both parliamentary secretaries to the government House leader engaged in misinformation and disinformation in a blatant attack on the reputation of the member for Wellington—Halton Hills.
The member for Kingston and the Islands said about the threats, and I quote, “The member for Wellington—Halton Hills had a defensive briefing on this two years ago, so he knew about this when it actually happened.” This same member went on to say, “it is true that I said that the member for Wellington—Halton Hills received multiple defensive briefings.... He did. He received multiple defensive briefings and it is absolutely true that I have absolutely no idea what he was told.”
These comments are outright disinformation. The member for Kingston and the Islands ought to know that there was only one briefing two years ago and that it was a general defensive briefing. It did not contain information about specific threats. However, he has allowed his false statements to stand on the record, although he has been given many opportunities to withdraw.
To make matters worse, the member for Winnipeg North said, “The member for Wellington—Halton Hills has known for two years.” He went on to accuse the member of doing nothing about these threats.
The accusations made by the members for Kingston and the Islands and for Winnipeg North are false; worse, they amount to victim blaming. I demand that these members rise to correct the misinformation and disinformation they provided to the House and that they apologize for their attempts to impugn the reputation of the hon. member for Wellington—Halton Hills.
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- May/4/23 3:32:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, to clarify, I have the quotation from earlier today by the member for Winnipeg North, and he said, “The member for Wellington—Halton Hills has known for two years.” Then he went on to accuse the member of doing nothing about these threats.
We are not talking about the briefing this week, the one the Prime Minister and the member had. We are talking about not just a suggestion but an assertion that the member has had information about the threats to his family for two years, which is false, and has done nothing about them.
He was blaming the victim. There should be a proper apology, and that was not it.
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- May/4/23 4:16:47 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, Canada's democracy is under threat. Its citizens and its institutions of governance are under threat, and this is a serious moment in our history as a nation. Canada has been under threat before and fought for its place among the family of nations that believe in peace, stability, the rule of law and protection of the citizens from adversaries within and without.
Canada, as it exists today, would not have been possible without the sacrifices, deprivations and evolution of many peoples, both indigenous and those who arrived later, coming together over time to fight alongside one another to forge a nation whose citizens pride themselves on upholding individual freedom, human dignity and enthusiasm for a way of life that is envied around the world. As Winston Churchill famously said, “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time”.
This Conservative opposition day motion recognizes that we have to fight and protect our citizens again. As chief opposition whip, I have the added duty to stand up for the members of Parliament who comprise His Majesty's loyal opposition in this special place, this House of Commons, the House that represents the common people of Canada, elected from ridings from coast to coast to coast.
We have a green carpet, representing the grass beneath our feet, the colour of the pasture in the greenwood, of the village green used by all: in other words, the colour of the common men and women. We have a common home and we should protect it. There are no titles of distinction in this place that give one person's vote more weight than another's. I have the “Honourable” designation before my name as a former minister and privy councillor, but my vote in Parliament remains one, as is the privilege of every other member of Parliament. That vote counts for something. That vote represents a whole district of Canadians who voted to give me and each person the honour of being in this chamber, their voices to be put forward and amplified often into law after debate.
Those laws govern Canadians equally, and we believe in equality before the law. Where there is injustice or unfairness, we have mechanisms to deal with those human failings: an imperfectly, entirely human system, yes; a flawless system, no. However, our Canadian system is as good as any in the world and strives to uphold its founding principles of peace, order and good government. We are a welcoming place for new Canadians to come and make it their home. No matter the date of their arrival into the Canadian family, they should have the protection of this nation's government. That any member of this House would find themselves under threat for a vote taken in this place for any reason, but particularly to uphold human rights in this country or any other country in this world, is an affront to our democracy.
Let us speak some truth in this House today. Political interference and intimidation of Canadian citizens was rampant and pervasive in the last election and, as we now know, the previous elections as well. In my province and riding, we have a sizable community of citizens of Chinese ancestry. They love their country of origin, its beauty, its art and culture, its language, its prominence in all areas of endeavour. They have enriched Canada in all aspects of life: the arts, literature, music, academia, business and, yes, even politics. We are all better for their contributions to this land and their leadership, historically under the harshest of conditions as labourers building a national railway that united us. Excluded from many aspects of citizenship, they were among our World War I and World War II soldiers, and they are today valued.
These are the Canadian citizens who took my volunteers and me aside during the last election and, with tears in their eyes, asked us to turn off our phones so we could speak in their backyards because they believed they were under surveillance by Beijing and if seen talking to a Conservative, they would be punished by Beijing, either directly or through their family members still living in China. They were told through WeChat and similar online groups, which I have seen, that China had people in every polling booth in Canada who would scan their voting cards and know if they voted Conservative.
They were told that Conservatives wanted a foreign registry to register every person of Chinese ethnicity in Canada so that they could later be rounded up, like the Japanese were during World War II, and have their assets confiscated. Therefore, they stayed home and their absence affected who sits in this House now.
Today, many of these same spokespersons are publicly saying that the call for a foreign agent registry, similar to the ones in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, is Chinese exclusion 2.0: false, false, false. It is completely false.
There was and is an orchestrated campaign by a foreign country publicly admired by the Prime Minister, with books of praise written about it by his brother Alexandre Trudeau, and his father Pierre Trudeau many years ago, to interfere with and campaign against votes in this House and the votes in a democratic election.
As I stated earlier, it is my duty as chief opposition whip to stand in defence of the rights and privileges of every member of the House, not just my caucus colleague from Wellington—Halton Hills. After all, and I heard this repeated from the government side today, a threat made against one of us is a threat against all of us. This House must demonstrate a collaborative, non-partisan response, yet we see that both parliamentary secretaries have repeatedly engaged in victim blaming today.
Let us be very clear: CSIS did not make known to the member for Wellington—Halton Hills that threats were being made against his family. He was given only a general briefing. I had the same briefing, very general, about how foreign governments, and several foreign governments were highlighted, seek to influence Canadian politics and politicians, and how they might go about doing so: they might infiltrate an office or volunteer in a campaign. We were told about these things. There was nothing specific and nothing personal whatsoever.
The member for Wellington—Halton Hills has been clear in public statements and before the press that he never had “numerous” briefings from CSIS, as the Minister of Public Safety repeatedly declared in the House yesterday.
The assertions from the government benches today that he, the victim, has known details for two years and that he, the victim, did nothing about it are irresponsible, completely false and meant to deflect from the government's past and ongoing failure to protect its citizens of Chinese descent from intimidation, coercion or manipulation that we know is real and is playing itself out across this country on a daily basis.
However, CSIS did advise the Liberal government about these threats. This information would have been brought to the attention of the public safety minister, the foreign minister and the Prime Minister. Those ministers need to be clear about what they learned and what they did about it.
To say nothing, as the Minister of Public Safety and the foreign minister did previously in this House, or for the Prime Minister to tell a scrum yesterday that he just learned about it through the news, is a dereliction of the duty to protect the citizens of this country writ large and the privileges of the members of this House. As the member just stated, it is a dereliction of the duty to put into place the mechanisms that would make sure that those people knew. Who else are Canadians to turn to?
This is another abject failure and another “I am just an observer” Prime Minister answer. No wonder CSIS members are frustrated and talking to the press. No wonder Canadians have lost faith in the government. They cannot trust their safety or protection to the Prime Minister anymore.
I ask all members to support our calls to action: the creation of a foreign agent registry; the establishment of a public inquiry; the closing down of Beijing-run police stations operating in Canada, including some in B.C.; and the expulsion of Beijing's diplomats responsible.
We call on the government and the Prime Minister to show up, stand up and do the hard work of governing this nation.
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- May/4/23 4:27:52 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is true that David Johnston served honourably as our Governor General, but that was before he was chosen by this government to be the overseer of the election debates, and it was before he was named to the Trudeau Foundation as a director, a position he finally stepped down from after there were complaints that it put him in a rank conflict of interest, because the Trudeau Foundation had received $140,000 to $200,000, depending on the reports, from someone attempting to influence the government. That is why we said that it should be someone completely independent of this government, completely independent of the Trudeau Foundation, who would look into any of these matters.
We are calling for a public inquiry now, and they should vote for it.
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- May/4/23 4:29:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, because it was so long ago, most people might not know this, but I took my undergrad studies on Communism, so I am quite familiar with how Communism works. The member is absolutely right that it is often a matter of creating chaos and disorganization in a foreign government or in a foreign place that the Communist government wishes to either influence or take over, for that matter. This has nothing to do with it being China; it has everything to do with it being a Communist government that is acting in its own interest and not in the interest of Canada, and the chaos continues.
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- May/4/23 4:31:23 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I always find the member very thoughtful in the House with her remarks.
Yes, I think trust is lacking. I think there is a lack of trust in this government for the very reasons that we have outlined here today: that it has not taken the steps necessary to create trust and give confidence to Canadians that it is protecting them. It does not matter what category of citizen a person is; we do not have categories in Canada. Whether a person is a newly arrived citizen or has been here for generations or since time immemorial, this government is tasked with our national security and safety, and needs to take it seriously.
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