Senator Plett: Well, certainly the two and a half months off that you had have not improved your answers, either. I guess maybe we both should have had another month, leader. I’m not sure.

Instead of taking the allegations of Beijing’s interference seriously from the start, leader, your government thought it could spin its way out of trouble and instead chose to waste time and taxpayer money. This is a criticism of your government, leader, not of the made-up rapporteur. He didn’t make up that title; Trudeau made it up.

The Trudeau government also thought it was appropriate to award this contract at a time when a record number of Canadians are using food banks, housing costs have doubled and people cannot afford to pay for gas to drive to work or to heat their homes. Contrary to what Minister Freeland says, we can’t all take a subway.

Leader, does the Trudeau government honestly believe this $4.5 million contract provided good value for taxpayer dollars spent? Yes or no?

Senator Plett: And by one party in the Senate.

Canadians know full well why Prime Minister Trudeau never took Beijing’s interference in our democracy seriously. He refused, Senator Gold, to announce a public inquiry, long after it was glaringly obvious that we need one. Why is that? Because it suits him and his office and his party to not have Beijing’s interference examined too closely, Senator Gold, as he benefited from it.

Leader, what is the rationale for Prime Minister Trudeau to continue to exclude the Senate’s official opposition from NSICOP? Please, leader, don’t tell me it is the Prime Minister’s prerogative and wash your hands of it. There must be a reason why he keeps refusing to name a Conservative senator. What is it?

Senator Plett: The Communist Party in Beijing intimidates our fellow citizens right here on Canadian soil, including a campaign against elected members in the other place. In June, the RCMP confirmed that it opened an investigation into Beijing’s threats against Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family. Yet, just a few weeks later, the Trudeau government thought it was perfectly fine for Minister Guilbeault to take part in this organization, all the while inflicting terrible financial pain on Canadian families through the Prime Minister’s two carbon taxes.

Will the Prime Minister take Beijing’s interference seriously, leader, and order Minister Guilbeault to withdraw from this organization, stop sending the CCP money from Canadian taxpayers and axe the tax on Canadians?

Senator Plett: In April 2022 — almost a year and a half ago, leader — I put a question on the Senate Order Paper asking if any other payments were made to the Beijing-controlled infrastructure bank by the Trudeau government. Another question on the Order Paper has been there since March 2021 — two and a half years ago — and it asks how many middle-class jobs were created here by sending the tax dollars of Canadians to this infrastructure bank. Leader, this past March, you said you would endeavour to get the answers to these questions, but I am still waiting.

Leader, are questions like these difficult for you to answer? Are they the reason why the Prime Minister doesn’t want Conservatives on NSICOP?

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): My question, Senator Gold, concerns NSICOP, the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians. Up until just a few weeks ago, leader, the Prime Minister spent the better part of a year telling us that NSICOP was the best place to investigate what he knew about Beijing’s interference in our democracy. A month ago, the Prime Minister showed us, again, how worried he is about making sure that people keep an eye on him by filling the third and final seat reserved for the Senate on this committee with a senator whom he named to the chamber — just as he did with the other two Senate seats on NSICOP. Senator Gold, why are there no Conservative senators on NSICOP?

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Leader, between March 2018 and March 2022, the Trudeau government made five payments totalling $256 million to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Conservatives believe this infrastructure bank is a tool of Beijing’s communist party. On June 14, the Canadian who worked there at an executive level confirmed our opinion when he publicly detailed the many ways the bank is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP.

Leader, what is going on with the review of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank that Minister Freeland announced on June 14? When will this government bring home to Canada the quarter of a billion taxpayer dollars it gave Beijing for nothing in return?

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Well, you’ve said before there’s a reason why it is called Question Period and not answer period.

In June, the Prime Minister’s made-up rapporteur confirmed he was receiving free media advice from Liberal and NDP strategists at the same time the crisis communications firm Navigator was being paid to help him. Leader, at that time, I asked you why taxpayer dollars were going to Navigator when he was getting free advice.

Yesterday, a written answer tabled in the House revealed that Navigator was subcontracted by the Torys law firm, which the Trudeau government awarded a sole-source contract worth $4.5 million.

Leader, given that the made-up rapporteur stepped down on June 9, how much of this $4.5 million was actually paid out? If I guessed all of it, leader, would I be right?

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Leader, in August, when energy costs went up for Canadians yet again, the Trudeau government sent its environment minister to a meeting in Beijing, where they burn more coal each year than every other country on earth combined. The China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development is a tool of the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, yet the Trudeau government thinks it is appropriate for Minister Guilbeault to sit on this council as a vice chair. In addition to lending Canada’s good name to this organization, Canadian taxpayers are funding it to the tune of $16 million, leader.

Leader, none of this makes sense. How can you possibly defend any of this?

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Let me first of all start off by saying I certainly will not withdraw anything that I have said. I have used the term “official opposition,” because that, in fact, is the term. I am the leader of the loyal opposition in the Senate.

You can shake your head all you want. That is the term.

And I am quite happy, Your Honour, to have you take under advisement whether supposed senators appointed by Justin Trudeau have the right to come in here and start changing the titles of what we, in fact, have gone by. You can call yourself “liaison” and “representative” and whatever you want. When it talks like a duck and walks like a duck, it’s a duck.

Senator Gold is the Leader of the Government. As was decided by the previous Speaker in a ruling that he made, Senator Gold, in fact, is the Leader of the Government, even if he doesn’t want to call himself that.

So if your point of order, senator, is on whether we are officially the opposition, you may take this as an insult, but I would like to say that’s a ridiculous argument. We are the official opposition. You can complain about us using the wrong terms when we talk about others. I didn’t besmirch any senator in this chamber. I was attacking the Prime Minister for making partisan appointments to NSICOP, because that’s what they are. They are his senators that he appointed to this chamber and then appointed to NSICOP to help him there.

I will stand on the position that we are the official opposition, Madam Speaker.