SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Hon. Michael Chong

  • Member of Parliament
  • Member of the panel of chairs for the legislative committees
  • Conservative
  • Wellington—Halton Hills
  • Ontario
  • Voting Attendance: 65%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $120,269.09

  • Government Page
  • May/9/24 11:05:09 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think that we need a full range of tools, which is what experts have been telling the government. The government needs to implement a full range of tools to counter these foreign interference threat operations, and one of the tools that it needs to start using, which it is not very good at, is sunlight and transparency. The government needs to tell us and the public about foreign interference threats that it has derived from intelligence so that we are equipped with information to ensure that we become more resilient as a Parliament and more resilient as a society to counter the threats coming from authoritarian states.
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  • Mar/7/23 2:43:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if the government treated the threat seriously, it would listen to the advice of CSIS. CSIS has said that an effective way to counter foreign interference is through sunlight and transparency, to build resilience by informing Canadians about interference threat activities. The government has done the opposite. First it hid behind excuses and accusations, and then it hid behind a secret committee and a special rapporteur. The government has been anything but transparent about this. It is burying the truth in process. Why?
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  • Mar/6/23 2:35:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for years, CSIS has tracked Beijing's foreign interference and has said, “foreign interference is a serious threat to the security of Canada.” For years, CSIS has advised the Prime Minister that “Canada can make use of a policy that is grounded in transparency and sunlight in order to highlight the point that foreign interference should be exposed to the public.” Will the Prime Minister heed this advice, be transparent and let PMO officials testify before a parliamentary committee?
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  • Dec/1/22 2:52:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, intelligence experts here and in the Five Eyes are saying that the best way to combat foreign interference is transparency and sunshine, to go public with information. That is why last summer the U.K. government and MI5 went public about a Beijing agent in the U.K. Parliament, Christine Lee. She was publicly named and so were the MPs who were the target of her donations. Those MPs took action to protect the integrity of the U.K. Parliament. Why will the government not do the same thing in this country?
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  • Dec/1/22 2:51:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, CSIS advised the Prime Minister in its top secret briefing note that the way to combat foreign interference was through “a policy that is grounded in transparency and sunlight in order to highlight the point that [foreign interference] should be exposed to the public”. Why are the Prime Minister and the government not heeding this advice? Why are they not going public and telling Canadians exactly which candidates and which riding associations were involved in Beijing's foreign interference?
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  • Nov/29/22 2:45:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, CSIS also said in those briefings that the government's response to foreign interference should be “grounded in transparency and sunlight” so that foreign interference is “exposed to the public”. The government's response to our legitimate questions has been anything but; it has stonewalled us for weeks. Commissioner Lucki said yesterday that the RCMP has investigations into broad foreign interference, including “interference in democratic processes.” I have a simple question. Do these investigations include the 2019 or 2021 election?
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  • Nov/23/22 2:48:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, “The allegations in the Globe story are false.” That is what the Prime Minister's response was to the Globe report that he interfered in the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin. “I do not have any information, nor have I been briefed on any federal candidates receiving any money from China.” That was the Prime Minister's response to the Global News report. The Prime Minister sows doubt when these kinds of reports are published. The best way to protect the integrity of a democracy is transparency, so when will the Prime Minister be transparent about all the facts concerning the 2019 election funding of candidates?
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