SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 191

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 4, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 191 - May/4/23
Mr. Denis Trudel (Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, BQ)
  • May/4/23 11:06:17 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I was a little taken aback by something my colleague seemed to be implying in his speech at one point. He seemed to be saying that we could be encouraging foreign interference, emboldening other countries, merely by asking questions. Apparently, the opposition parties are somehow making us more vulnerable simply by asking questions in the House or on committees about interference. That kind of talk is really hard to bear. What does my colleague think our work here is about anyway, if not exactly that, to ask questions about important issues like a foreign country's interference in our democratic process? Does he really think we should stop asking questions about it?
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Context: House Hansard - 191 - May/4/23
Mr. Denis Trudel (Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, BQ)
  • May/4/23 12:22:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the elephant in the room that no one is talking about right now is that Canada is a bit of a fantasyland where people wear rose-coloured glasses. People do not realize that Canada is a bit of a small fry among the major nations and when it comes to big international issues. It is as though we just discovered that the major world powers are watching what is happening in other countries. Over the past few months, we have been talking about interference in the electoral process and Chinese police stations. How can the government allow a foreign power to open outposts to keep tabs on residents of our country? Nevertheless, that is being done openly. No one said anything for months and then it happened. Chinese balloons flew over Canada. We never really found out how that could have happened or why we do not have a system to protect us from that kind of thing. Huge balloons flew over the country, but we do not really know how the government reacted. A spy was also arrested. He worked for Hydro‑Québec and was taking photographs. We know that Hydro‑Québec is conducting research on electric motors. One of its employees was working for the Chinese government, secretly taking photographs and telling the Chinese government all about the research being done in Canada. Does my colleague not think that Canada is a total fantasyland?
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Context: House Hansard - 191 - May/4/23
Mr. Denis Trudel (Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, BQ)
  • May/4/23 1:25:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we learned a few months ago in the Journal de Montréal that there were two Chinese police stations in Brossard. However, when I asked an RCMP officer about that at a meeting of the Special Committee on the Canada–People's Republic of China Relationship at the beginning of February, he told me that there were none in Quebec. A few weeks later, we learned that there actually were. We also learned that the woman who heads up those two Chinese police stations was a candidate in the Brossard municipal election. She was elected and we now know that the Chinese platform WeChat was sending messages in Mandarin to members of the Chinese community in Brossard. That is likely one of the reasons why she got elected. How can we ensure that this type of interference does not occur in the federal process if we do not hold a truly independent public inquiry?
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