44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 9, 2023 10:00AM
- May/9/23 2:19:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member is well aware that the RCMP is following up on the matter.
I would like to share a little update on Alberta, though. The governments of Canada and Alberta are working together to ensure that all those affected get the help they need.
The federal government will continue to work with provincial officials, municipalities and indigenous communities to support people across Alberta and across the country in any way we can. Of course, we encourage everyone to follow the advice of local authorities and stay safe, but know that all orders of government are working together to keep people safe through this difficult time.
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- May/9/23 2:20:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party knows full well that the police in this country operate independently. They are expected to do their job to keep Canadians safe, and they will continue to do that.
The member is suggesting that we have done nothing about foreign interference. We have appointed former governor general David Johnston as an independent special rapporteur to follow up. We are establishing a foreign influence registry. We are defending the proper functioning of the House by expelling a Chinese diplomat, and we will continue to work to protect Canadians.
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- May/9/23 2:21:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member opposite is being disingenuous. She knows full well that we are moving forward on establishing a foreign agent registry. We are doing it properly so that it actually responds to the needs of Canadians.
We will continue to ensure that we are standing up for our values, taking seriously these issues, which is why we did take the time to ensure, as we declared a Chinese diplomat persona non grata, that it was done appropriately.
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- May/9/23 2:22:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that foreign actors are attempting to monitor, intimidate or threaten Canadians is completely unacceptable. The RCMP has said that it is actively investigating these suspected stations. As it has done before, it will not hesitate to take action again.
Everyone should feel safe in this country. We will exhaust all efforts to protect them from unacceptable behaviour by hostile authoritarian states.
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- May/9/23 2:23:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in 2015, when we took office, we committed to establish an oversight committee by parliamentarians to see and engage with our security intelligence agencies every step of the way. The Conservatives were totally opposed to that kind of oversight by parliamentarians, but we moved forward with NSICOP anyway. This is a powerful tool that we have to ensure Canadians are being kept safe.
On top of that, we established a panel to oversee our elections in 2019 and 2021. That panel confirmed that the elections' integrity held despite attempts at interference.
We have always taken this issue seriously and we will continue to.
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- May/9/23 2:25:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our country's linguistic duality is an asset that we must protect. In that regard, Quebec establishes its own immigration targets, and it has the exclusive power to select the majority of its immigrants.
For our part, we firmly believe that we can grow our economy while protecting the French culture and language. We will continue to be there to defend Quebec's interests and to promote the importance of the French language across Canada.
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- May/9/23 2:26:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we will always take Quebec's specificity into account. I get it. That is why we were the first federal government to recognize that not only do we need to protect both official languages across the country, but we also need to pay particular attention to this issue in order to continue to protect French in Quebec.
The decision on federal immigration levels was made independently. It is based on advice from departmental officials, organizations, stakeholders, provincial and territorial leaders and citizens from across Canada to determine the best immigration policy for Canada.
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- May/9/23 2:27:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, from the very beginning, we have always taken threats to Canadians around foreign interference extremely seriously, which is why we have created new mechanisms and new tools to counter foreign interference. It is why we have actually appointed an independent expert to look at the foreign interference landscape and to ensure that we have all the tools we need and to create more, including a public inquiry if necessary.
We will follow the advice of the independent expert. The expert is the one who is best placed to say how we move forward.
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- May/9/23 2:29:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as my hon. colleague points out, the diasporas, whether the Chinese Canadian, the Iranian Canadian, Russian Canadian or Indo-Canadian communities, are often the first communities to be targeted by foreign interference.
That is why we have brought in measures to protect them. We will continue to work with them, not just to protect them from interference, but also to protect them from the unfortunate racism and discrimination they face from the public when they are suspected of being foreign agents. It is a problem we will continue to address.
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