Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): My question is for the government leader in the Senate. It concerns foreign interference in our country.

Senator Gold, Global News reported last week that a member of the other place:

. . . privately advised a senior Chinese diplomat in February 2021 that Beijing should hold off freeing Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, according to two separate national security sources.

That member of Parliament left the Liberal caucus that day, and the next day, he voted with the opposition to pass a motion calling upon the Trudeau government to launch a public inquiry.

Leader, the allegation levelled against this member of Parliament is very serious. It is clear that there has to be a public inquiry; there is no doubt about that. How can the Prime Minister still cling to the belief that a public inquiry is optional, even now? It has to happen, leader. Why can’t he see that? Can you see that?

Senator Plett: It is not Mr. Johnston whom we have questions about and don’t have confidence in; it is the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister and his office will not come clean with Canadians about what they knew about Beijing’s interference, so they are finding it hard to keep their story straight.

In the same Global News story of last Wednesday, the Prime Minister’s Office, or PMO, said that it “. . . only became aware that a conversation took place after Mr. Dong told us, following recent media questions.”

However, last Friday, The Globe and Mail reported that it contacted the PMO about this conversation on March 3, after which the Prime Minister’s Office asked CSIS to provide a copy of the conversation’s transcript.

Which is correct, leader: what PMO told Global News or what they told The Globe and Mail? Or is neither statement correct? It seems that their storytelling has seen better days.

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Leader, in 2016, around the same time the Prime Minister was holding cash-for-access fundraisers with wealthy donors connected to the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, in Beijing, his autobiography was republished by a state-owned enterprise, which serves as a propaganda department for the CCP. When this was brought to light in the media in 2021, the Prime Minister’s former National Security Advisor Richard Fadden indicated he would have strongly recommended against it, as it’s a classic ploy to cozy up to the Prime Minister.

I’ve had a written question on the Order Paper since November of 2021, leader, asking whether the Office of the Prime Minister or the Privy Council Office were provided with any security warnings about the republication of the Prime Minister’s autobiography. I have also asked if Global Affairs Canada had provided any advice on this matter.

Leader, why doesn’t the Trudeau government want to answer my questions, or do they also want the Rules Committee to deal with it?

Senator Plett: Well, at least it was a brief answer.

The Globe and Mail reported in September 2021 that the promotional blurb for the book in China noted that early in Mr. Trudeau’s first mandate, he signed Canada up for the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a development that happened over the objections of the United States. It’s interesting that Beijing chose this way to publicize the Prime Minister’s book when the Trudeau government is very secretive when it comes to this bank.

I have two questions on the Senate Order Paper on this matter. One question has been there for almost a year, asking if the Trudeau government will make any further payments to this bank. The other question has been there for two years, leader. What’s the purpose of us asking written questions for two years — since March of 2021? It asks how many middle-class jobs were created here in Canada by sending tax dollars to this bank. It is a simple question.

Why doesn’t the Trudeau government want to answer these questions, leader? And why don’t you want to answer these questions? Surely you have the resources to make the inquiries and get us these answers.