Honourable senators, it has been almost six months since the Special Report on Foreign Interference in Canada’s Democratic Processes and Institutions stated that foreign actors cultivated relationships with:

 . . . members of Parliament and senators – with a view to having the Canadian act in favour of the foreign actor and against Canada’s interests. . . .

It continued, stating that:

. . . some Parliamentarians are, in the words of the intelligence services, “semi-witting or witting” participants in the efforts of foreign states to interfere in our politics. . . .

Every leader in the House of Commons who wished to has seen the unredacted version of the report. The leader of the Green Party — not a recognized party in the House of Commons — read the unredacted report in June and declared, “There is no list of MPs who have shown disloyalty to Canada.”

Then the NDP leader read the same report and came to a completely different conclusion. He stated in June, “I am more alarmed today than I was yesterday after having read the report.”

Five weeks ago, the Public Safety Minister testified before the Foreign Interference Commission that it is irresponsible to claim there are traitors or treasonous people sitting in Parliament.

But the very next day, Justin Trudeau testified that he has:

. . . the names of a number of parliamentarians, former parliamentarians and/or candidates in the Conservative Party of Canada who are engaged, or at high risk of, or for whom there is clear intelligence around foreign interference.

I am sure senators noted that the Prime Minister did not say “members of the House of Commons”; he said “parliamentarians,” which, of course, includes senators.

Absent from all these claims and counterclaims is any informed commentary from members of this chamber. That is because, unlike their counterparts in the House of Commons, no leader of a recognized group in the Senate has been permitted to read the unredacted report. That no leader in the Senate has been able to see that full report is nothing short of a disgrace.

Senators have a collective responsibility to speak up and demand equal treatment for our chamber. Colleagues, in Ottawa, you have to fight for your space. If not, the Senate will continue to be marginalized and considered as nothing more than some glorified debating society: always interesting but not really important.

Colleagues, we are the second chamber of Parliament, but that does not make us second-class parliamentarians, nor should we accept to be treated that way. The Senate has to stand up and speak up.

The leaders of the groups in the Senate have a right to know what is in the full version of this report and, if required, a duty to act on what it contains. Thank you, colleagues.