44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 4, 2023 10:00AM
- May/4/23 10:18:11 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I will start with a statement of fact. The Prime Minister first heard about this incident earlier this week, when it was reported in the media, as did everybody else. The member for Wellington—Halton Hills had a defence briefing on this two years ago, so he knew about this when it actually happened.
My question for the member is this. When did he find out about it? Did the member for Wellington—Halton Hills bring it to his attention at any time prior to the media doing so?
93 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/4/23 10:54:02 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, on that same point of order, we have members on the government side basically gaslighting the member for Wellington—Halton Hills. That is why we are doing what we are doing. They are not going to get away with it.
43 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/4/23 11:39:00 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo.
There are really two tones that I have heard in my time in the House. One tone seeks to get to the bottom of this and have a legitimate inquiry. The other is what I would call a quarrelsome, pugnacious and victim-blaming tone coming from the other side with respect to the member for Wellington—Halton Hills, who is of the utmost integrity in my view.
Therefore, I would ask the hon. member to comment on where he stands on all of this. Does he stand with being quarrelsome or with the member for Wellington—Halton Hills?
120 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/4/23 11:56:58 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, there have been ongoing demands today for the hon. members in the Liberal caucus to withdraw the comments they made about the member for Wellington—Halton Hills. They continually said that he was briefed about this two years ago and that he did not inform his family, the Conservative caucus or anybody about it. It is unconscionable, and the members across the way should be gentlemen, stand up and apologize.
73 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/4/23 12:02:06 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what I was referring to. If we rewind the tapes to earlier today, that specific member said that the member for Wellington—Halton Hills had known for two years and he has done nothing about the issue. That is not true. That is misleading Canadians, and it is misleading this House. It is unconscionable that he is doing that.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
70 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/4/23 12:17:57 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, after listening to the member's speech, I hope he will support this motion going forward.
The member for Winnipeg North and the member for Kingston and the Islands, in the House this morning, said that the member for Wellington—Halton Hills knew about the harassment toward his family and himself through a briefing two years ago.
I am a father of three kids. Do you think that anyone in the House who knew there were harassment allegations and foreign interference from a foreign country would not bring those allegations forward if they thought their family was in trouble or in danger? Do you agree that a member in the House would know about that and not bring it forward to the government after the CSIS briefing? Do you agree with the member for Winnipeg North and the member for Kingston and the Islands that the member did not take his family's security seriously? Do you believe they should be victim blaming our member for Wellington—Halton Hills?
173 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/4/23 12:19:05 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, yes, we are supporting the motion, in response to his first question.
In response to his second question, I was not in the House for this exchange. I am not going to impugn any members for anything they might have said, particularly if I have not been there to witness it.
I will say, as I stated at the outset, that the member for Wellington—Halton Hills is an honourable member who has served his country in a remarkably effective way. His question of privilege, I believe, should be upheld by the speakership, although that is not in my hands.
Any question of him being dishonourable I would strongly react to and say simply that this is not something that any member should be questioning in the House.
131 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/4/23 12:20:02 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, to correct the record, what I have been saying is that the member for Wellington—Halton Hills received a defensive briefing from CSIS. I do not know the content of what was said and I have not said that—
43 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/4/23 12:21:52 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, let us dial things down. I would say that I have had defensive briefings that have had no detail to them at all. I believe the member for Wellington—Halton Hills because I know him to be a very honourable person and I also believe that his question of privilege is a valid one. I hope that the House will be seized with the debate around that at some point, but that is up to the Speaker.
80 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/4/23 12:29:12 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, those two members opposite have had the exact same talking points. They have been gaslighting and victim-blaming the member for Wellington—Halton Hills, which is pathetic.
By doing that, they are also undermining the member for Vancouver East, who gave a great speech about her personal situation and what is happening. Between the member for Wellington—Halton Hills and the member for Vancouver East, they speak very clearly on behalf of all the members of the Chinese diaspora who are experiencing the intimidation tactics by the People's Republic of China.
It is embarrassing, to this country, what those two members opposite are doing.
109 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/4/23 1:18:54 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Going back to the Hansard, the member member for Winnipeg North said earlier, “The member for Wellington—Halton Hills has known for two years.” That has already been proven to be false.
The member opposite has not apologized for misleading the House. The member for Wellington—Halton Hills has the utmost integrity, and all members of this House respect him. We all agree on that. He openly stated that there was a general briefing, and there were no specific details in it.
The member opposite has not yet apologized for misleading the House and impugning the integrity and honour of the member for Wellington—Halton Hills. He should apologize right now.
125 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/4/23 1:34:48 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. It is also always a pleasure and an honour to speak in the House, although today I feel dismayed that I am having to give this speech.
Obviously, people on this side of the House are quite angry. We are angry with what we have learned about the member for Wellington—Halton Hills and what he has been through. As many others have said, I stand in solidarity with him. We stand in solidarity with him. I will commit to stand in solidarity with all members of the House, regardless of their party, if they suffer the same fate, even if it is the parliamentary secretary from Winnipeg or the parliamentary secretary from Kingston and Islands, who have, in my view, with all due respect, belittled what that member has gone through with their comments today.
I want to pick up where the member for Winnipeg North just left off. He said that the Prime Minister took this seriously. Let us delve into that just a little. I was not going to go down this path, but since he opened the door, let us step right through it.
The Prime Minister does take this seriously, he says. I know that we, as Conservatives, take it seriously. I take it so seriously that I will be sharing my time with the member for Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, who I am sure takes it seriously as well.
However, as the member just said, the Prime Minister took this seriously. Why then did nothing happen until a Globe and Mail story with various leaks occurred? Is that the action of a prime minister who takes this seriously, waiting for a leak, waiting for Bob Fife to report? That is what caused the government to act, and that is a government that takes it seriously.
Forgive me if I am incredulous and question what I would characterize as a dubious assertion based on the fact that the government only took it seriously when it came to light that it was occurring. That is a government that was supposed to be transparent by default. It knew and did nothing until a newspaper leak came out, which is unacceptable, and then waited for weeks and weeks. The government put it off for weeks.
The Liberals might ask why I am yelling. I am yelling because we should all be angry. We should all be angry by what the member for Vancouver East spoke about in her speech. We should all be angry about what the member for Wellington—Halton Hills is going through. We should all be angry that this came to light simply because of a leak. It is not proactive, not transparency by default, but self-serving politics, the precise thing that we were promised would not occur.
The member for Kingston and the Islands in his comments read from a 2013 memorandum or publication of some sort to point out what the Conservatives had not done. If it were such a big issue to the Liberals, why did they wait until 2023 to act? If they are going to trumpet what we did not do in 2013, and I do not recall a member of the House being threatened in the same way, if it was such a big deal then, why did they not act in the years between 2015 and 2023?
Kenny Chiu lost his seat. All of us have worked so hard to be here. All of us give up time with our families. The member for Wellington—Halton Hills has served this country in public service for 23 years in the House. I cannot imagine the sacrifices he has made. We have all made sacrifices to be here, because we believe in this, yet it is not honoured. Kenny Chiu, somebody who made sacrifices to sit in the House with the green carpet likely lost his seat, as did others, due to electoral interference, and it was not on the government's radar until a leak. The Liberals were prepared to look the other way until a leak happened, yet we are supposed to believe the government takes electoral interference seriously.
As my colleague from the Green Party just said, “When is enough enough? When do we get an inquiry? When and at what threshold? Does another member of the House have to be targeted with intimidation, or three members? Does it have to be a Liberal member? Do there have to be actual consequences? I say this as somebody who, in a prior job and in this job, has seen criminal charges laid in respect of the work I do and the way people have dealt with me. When is enough enough?
If we want to talk about past Liberals, I believe it was Jean Chrétien who said that only 10 or 15 ridings were affected, that it was no big deal. Yes, it is a big deal because people have put their lives on the line to sit in the House. They have given up and sacrificed so much to be here. If it is one person who does not sit in the House because somebody prevented it, that is unacceptable, and I will stand with my Liberal colleagues, my Green Party colleagues, my Bloc colleagues, my NDP colleagues and my Conservative colleagues in saying that.
I touched on this very briefly, but I want to again recognize the member for Vancouver East for a very touching speech, speaking about racism. I have spoken about solidarity here. That is something on which we also have to stand in solidarity. I am a first-generation Canadian from a family that lived through fascism in Italy. We must all stand in solidarity.
I was told when I arrived here that there was partisanship and that we all would go back and forth in the House. As a lawyer, I understand that because it happens in court as well. However, at the end of the day, when somebody needs something, we are all going to be there. This is the time for all of us to be there.
What have we seen? We have seen a lack of action. The Conservative motion speaks for itself. What consequences have occurred as a result of something the government is not even denying happened? It is not even denying that the member for Wellington—Halton Hills went through this. Where are the consequences? I understand the foreign affairs minister appeared at committee this morning. I have not had a full briefing on what she said or reviewed her comments, but I really look forward to hearing from her, our highest diplomat, as to why nothing has occurred.
I want to deal with some of the fallacious and ridiculous arguments that have been made, one of which was by the member for Winnipeg North, who said, “The member for Wellington—Halton Hills has known for two years. The question is whether that member has brought it up with the member for Calgary Midnapore or any member of the Conservative caucus. Has he brought it up inside the chamber? Has he done anything on the issue?”
With all due respect, it is not for the member for Wellington—Halton Hills to do something. It is for the government to do something. It is for this chamber to do something. In fact, I will give the member my last 30 seconds if he is prepared to apologize for those comments. It does not look like he is prepared to apologize. They are shameful. It is absolutely shameful to say that the member for Wellington—Halton Hills should have done something.
Another argument was that 49 people were briefed. What a terrible argument. The fact that 49 people were briefed means that the member for Wellington—Halton Hills should have been aware, or whatever that means. It is a terrible argument.
Another argument was to blame Stephen Harper. That is one of my favourites. If we are to do that, we could go back to every prime minister, Liberal and Conservative, and ask why they did not do what we are doing in the House today. Things evolve. I do not recall this type of issue coming up with Prime Minister Harper.
The last argument is that there is no need for an inquiry. Again, I go back to the hon. member when he said, “When is enough enough?”
1439 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/4/23 1:46:58 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, when the member gave a speech, he asked the member to apologize. He made the point a few times. The member said some extremely egregious things about the member for Wellington—Halton Hills. He has impugned the integrity of the House and of that member. What has he done? He has—
55 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/4/23 2:12:27 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, it is unconscionable that the Prime Minister is making the victim the villain. An agent of the Communist regime in China attacked a member of this House and his family. Period. Instead of defending every parliamentarian and all Canadians, members of the Liberal caucus have attacked the hon. member for Wellington—Halton Hills. They have falsely claimed that our colleague has no credibility. They have also claimed that he knew about the attacks on his family.
Do the Liberals really think that Canadians believe that the hon. member knew about threats against his family but did nothing, while at the same time the Minister of Public Safety, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and even the Prime Minister were oblivious to these attacks and threats against a member of Parliament?
Blaming the victim of these threats sends a very frightening message to Chinese Canadians and all Canadians who are being intimidated by Beijing and China that we will not defend democracy, we will not defend Canadians and we will not defend this House. The Liberals need to stand up and expel this member—
186 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/4/23 2:23:47 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for sharing that update with the chamber. I can also assure him that, as the Prime Minister said and as I said earlier this week, we found out on Monday of this week, which is why we acted very quickly and decisively to reach out directly to the member for Wellington—Halton Hills to make sure that he was offered a briefing and had that briefing happen.
We will continue to work with him to address and mitigate any concerns around foreign interference, because every member in the chamber deserves to be able to do their work in representing their constituencies in a manner that is safe and secure.
118 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/4/23 2:26:18 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I want to reassure my colleague. We share the concerns of the member for Wellington—Halton Hills, which is why we offered him a briefing.
We will continue to offer him support, as well as all members who work in the House, to protect our democratic institutions.
50 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/4/23 2:28:51 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, let us be very clear: It was only on Monday of this week that the Prime Minister, the government members and I were informed about concerns regarding the member for Wellington—Halton Hills. Once we found out, we dealt with the situation. We provided a briefing to the opposition member.
We are going to keep working with all members to protect our democratic institutions.
67 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/4/23 2:35:15 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, today, two high-ranking senior Liberals entered the House claiming the member for Wellington—Halton Hills was briefed two years ago about the threatening allegations and simply ignored it, not talking to colleagues or his family in Canada and abroad. This is outrageous and inexcusable but, most importantly, unbelievable.
To the public safety minister, Canadians are watching you, sir, and they demand an answer. When were you first briefed?
72 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/4/23 2:36:00 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, first I would like to reiterate that we do take the concerns that have been expressed by the member for Wellington—Halton Hills very seriously. That is why, as soon as we were informed about this issue, which was Monday earlier this week, we reached out to him directly. We offered a briefing to him. We made sure that briefing happened, and we will continue to work with him and all members to make sure that we can uphold our democracy.
84 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/4/23 2:38:20 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the government did reach out to the member for Wellington—Halton Hills to express our support for him and his family.
We are concerned about the situation, not only for the member for Wellington—Halton Hills, but also for all members of the House.
It is important to do this work in good faith to protect our democratic institutions.
63 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
