44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 31, 2023 02:00PM
- May/31/23 2:20:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this May, Canadians celebrated Asian Heritage Month.
One in five Canadians, including my family and many members of the House, traces their roots back to Asia. Asian Canadians have made significant contributions going back to Confederation. In fact, Confederation would not have happened if it were not for the back-breaking labour of Chinese railway workers, who built the railway that laid the constitutional foundations of this federation. Today, the Asian community is a cherished part of our Canadian family. From business to politics, the academy, arts and charity, Asian Canadians play leading roles in Canadian society.
Let us remember the sacrifices Asian Canadians have made. Let us stand in solidarity with Asian Canadians against racism and discrimination, and let us celebrate Asian Canadians for the contributions they have made and continue to make to our home and native land.
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- May/31/23 2:21:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is with great appreciation that I rise today before you and the entire House to pay tribute to a good, kind and gentle man from Gatineau, Quebec, who has dedicated 38 years of his life to serving his country. He spent 10 of those years in the Royal Canadian Air Force, while the last 28 years were spent protecting us, the MPs, and all those who come to the House.
I am talking about the man who is sitting in the Sergeant-at-Arms' chair today, Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms Michel Denault.
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- May/31/23 2:22:52 p.m.
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We all know this man, but what many may not know is that on that terrible day in October 2014, he faced the danger unarmed, ready to give his life to back up his colleague and keep us safe. He disobeyed a direct order to stay back, because that is just who he is. He put our well-being above his own, not just on that day, but every time he entered this place.
Michel Denault's dedication and altruism are not often mentioned, but today I want to recognize just how hard he has worked during his career in the House of Commons. More importantly, I want to thank him.
On behalf of all parliamentarians, I sincerely thank Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms Michel Denault. We wish him a happy retirement. I want him to know that he will be sorely missed.
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- May/31/23 2:24:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, how many police stations is Beijing operating here in Canada?
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- May/31/23 2:24:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as you well know, it is completely unacceptable for a foreign government, especially the government of China or others, to interfere in the lives and concerns of Canadians, whether in relation to our citizens, our democracy, our educational establishments or our government institutions. We will continue to ensure that protecting Canadians is a priority. The RCMP is currently following up on all of these police stations.
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- May/31/23 2:25:05 p.m.
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- May/31/23 2:25:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition knows full well that the RCMP is conducting investigations and taking action against these illegal acts in Canada.
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- May/31/23 2:25:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister admitted that there were police stations. His government said that all these stations had been shut down. We found out that is not true, that at least two were still operating and that his government had given taxpayer money for those police stations. I will ask my question for the third time: How many police stations is Beijing operating here in Canada? How many?
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- May/31/23 2:25:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I said, the RCMP has been tasked with conducting the necessary investigations and laying charges in due course against those attempting to interfere in our democracy. If the Leader of the Opposition is so curious about the details of foreign interference, then he should accept the briefing that has been offered to him by the intelligence services. Then he would no longer not know the details and he could learn about the serious issue of foreign interference. I encourage the Leader of the Opposition to get informed.
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- May/31/23 2:26:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, the number of police stations controlled by a foreign dictatorship in Canada is not a detail. It would not be a detail if any government had foreign police stations operating on our soil.
Second of all, all Canadians deserve to know the answer. The government claimed that it had shut down all these police stations. Now we know that there are two in operation and that the Prime Minister's government has given taxpayer money to help fund them.
My simple question is this: How many of Beijing's police stations are operating on Canadian soil today?
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- May/31/23 2:27:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as Canadians well know, the government takes extremely seriously the issue of foreign interference and has done so since 2015, when we brought in significant measures to counter foreign interference. We continue to do so. The RCMP is quite rightly charged with the responsibility for investigating and following up on these reports of Beijing-funded police stations but, indeed, if the Leader of the Opposition is so—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- May/31/23 2:27:40 p.m.
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I must interrupt the right hon. Prime Minister.
I just want to remind everyone of this: The way it works is that you ask a question and then you listen to the answer, whether you like it or not. You cannot keep asking the question over and over again while the person is speaking. I wanted to point that out.
The right hon. Prime Minister.
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- May/31/23 2:28:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if the Leader of the Opposition continues to have questions on foreign interference, as many Canadians do, I would suggest that he actually take our security agencies up on the offer they have made to him of being briefed on all the intelligence related to foreign interference. That way, he does not have to hide behind, to quote the report on this, “a veil of ignorance”, and he can actually work from the facts.
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- May/31/23 2:28:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister can brief all Canadians right now. These are police stations that exist to harass and intimidate Canadian citizens on Canadian soil. No real country would allow a foreign dictatorship to run police stations on its soil. The Americans are arresting Beijing's agents in their country.
I will give the Prime Minister the chance to answer the question one last time. How many police stations are being operated by Beijing on Canadian soil?
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- May/31/23 2:29:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if the Leader of the Opposition were to take this issue of foreign interference seriously as an issue facing diaspora communities and Chinese Canadians, he would be interested in actually understanding the facts around foreign interference. Instead, he chooses to play partisan games. He chooses to make personal attacks against a former governor general instead of actually accepting the need to take this issue seriously. He knows full well that the RCMP's responsibility is to do these investigations and make arrests, and they are actually following up on that.
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- May/31/23 2:29:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canada no longer has a government worthy of being called democratic.
This Prime Minister refuses to clear up any doubts about his desire to protect secrets that we are only just starting to uncover.
Let us ask the people of Xinjiang how China's dictatorship operates. Let us ask the people of Hong Kong how China operates. Let us ask the Tibetans how the Chinese Communist Party operates. Let us ask the bullied MPs how Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, operates.
Should the Prime Minister not get his act together before going down in history as pandering to a hostile foreign power?
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- May/31/23 2:30:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, like the leader of the Conservative Party, the leader of the Bloc Québécois is choosing not to look at the facts. He is choosing not to consult the information at his disposal.
We may not agree on the best way to defend our democracy, but we cannot disagree on facts. He is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts.
That is why we offered him a briefing on confidential information, but he refused. He prefers to make uninformed attacks rather than understanding the real facts in order to take this issue seriously.
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- May/31/23 2:31:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is encouraging an insidious culture of secrecy; China is too.
David Johnston is making a game out of hiding secrets from Canadians and Quebeckers, like China would. The Liberals' entire strategy is now obvious: to divert attention from the close ties between Liberal power brokers and China, possibly even to protect the interests of investor friends in China by devising a strategy for accessing secret documents that keeps them secret.
It is not up to David Johnston to determine what I can or cannot see. It is not about me. An independent judge will set the terms of reference of a public inquiry.
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- May/31/23 2:32:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we just heard directly from the Bloc Québécois leader that he is choosing not to learn the facts.
He complains about a culture of secrecy. He feels frustrated at the confidential information that our security agencies—
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- May/31/23 2:32:21 p.m.
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I am sorry to interrupt. I am going to ask the hon. member for Red Deer—Lacombe to keep it down, and many others as well.
I will ask the hon. Prime Minister to start over again.
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