My question, of course, is again for the Liberal government leader in the Senate.

The Prime Minister claimed last week that CSIS never told anyone two years ago that an agent in Beijing’s Toronto consulate had targeted MP Michael Chong and his family in Hong Kong.

Leader, you said the Prime Minister’s words should be taken as true, when, in fact, his very words were false. There is a word for people who make false statements. The truth is that CSIS sent its July 2021 report to multiple government departments, as well as the Prime Minister’s own National Security Advisor, leader. This was confirmed to Mr. Chong by the current National Security Advisor. This directly contradicts what the Prime Minister told Canadians.

The Prime Minister will not come clean about what he knows about Beijing’s interference, and when he does say something, it’s false, leader, untrue. How can Canadians trust anything that this Prime Minister has to say about Beijing’s interference?

Thank you for your question, senator. The Prime Minister was clear, as was the foreign minister, that they became aware of the specifics from The Globe and Mail article.

When the Prime Minister made his remarks with regard to CSIS to which you referred, at that juncture he had not been made aware that in fact the information, it now appears, was sent to someone occupying the position, albeit on a temporary basis, of the National Security Advisor — not the current incumbent but someone who was there over the summer period. That was made clear and corrected soon thereafter.

The fact is this government continues to act properly, prudently and responsibly with regard to the serious threats of foreign interference and the allegations that have been made through the leaked CSIS documents to The Globe and Mail, and it will continue to do so in the best interests of Canadians.

You started off by saying the Prime Minister was clear. He was, in fact, clear when he said something that wasn’t true.

Yesterday, the Trudeau government was repeatedly asked how many parliamentarians and their families were targeted by Beijing’s interference. The fact that they still refuse to answer this question shows their sheer incompetence, leader.

It’s also incredible that the People’s Republic of China diplomat, who CSIS says targeted an MP and his family, was only expelled from Canada yesterday. The Trudeau government was shamed into taking this decision, which should have happened two years ago, leader.

In two weeks, the Prime Minister’s made-up Special Rapporteur is supposed to make his initial recommendations. I don’t know how anyone who witnessed what has transpired just in the last week could conclude anything less than a public inquiry.

Now, of course, we’ll find out what this Special Rapporteur will suggest. The Trudeau government failed; they failed in their duty to protect Mr. Chong and his family against threats from Beijing. How many other parliamentarians has this government similarly failed? Why can this government not answer this basic question?

Thank you for your question. It is one thing to stand up, as oppositions do, to demand information that is classified, would be against the law and is against the law to publicly disclose. That is the partisan prerogative of this opposition.

The fact remains that the Government of Canada, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs learned of this a week ago. Proper, prudent steps were taken to determine and evaluate the allegations that were made — again, I repeat — by leaked, not necessarily nuanced documents of a classified nature. The government, as Minister Joly also said, had a responsibility to the Canadians in China and to those here, as well as to the economic interests of those farmers and other producers whose livelihoods depend upon their continued access to markets in China, to at least assess the consequences that the government took, and properly so, in declaring this diplomat persona non grata.

The process took a week. It was done properly, in conformity with the Vienna Convention, in consultation with our allies, on whom we depend, to make sure that what happened to the two Michaels and reprisals against our farmers and producers would not be repeated.

I will continue to make every effort to answer seriously the questions that raise serious issues, though it does somehow sometimes strain my creativity to do so in the face of some of the implications.

I’m about to answer it, colleagues, but you’ll at least allow me the small indulgence to comment on the rhetoric that surrounds these otherwise important issues that you raise for your purposes.

The Prime Minister was very clear that although his government was not made aware until The Globe and Mail published the leaked documents, he instructed CSIS:

Going forward, we are making it very, very clear to CSIS and all our intelligence officials that when there are concerns that talk specifically about any MP, particularly about their family, those need to be elevated.

He also said:

Even if CSIS doesn’t feel that it’s a sufficient level of concern for them to take more direct action, we still need to know about it at the upper government level.

That is what this government has instructed CSIS. That is the way in which it expects the intelligence services to go forward.

Senator Batters, colleagues, my job is to answer questions, and I will. It is not to try to school this chamber on the basic elements of how security information is transmitted from CSIS or other agencies through various levels. Nor is it my obligation or desire to remind you that we are still dealing with leaked material, of which we actually have no notice how nuanced it was or wasn’t — published and leaked information that has been taken seriously by this government and acted upon by this government upon its receipt.

With regard to the rest of your question, Senator Batters, the fact remains that this government is taking the steps necessary to protect Canadians from foreign interference. The actions it took in expelling the diplomat and declaring the individual persona non grata sends a strong signal not only to China but also to other countries who seek to interfere with our democratic processes.