QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety
Foreign Interference
May 11, 2023
My question is for the government leader in the Senate. We just found out yesterday that Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino — who helps Canadians sleep so comfortably at night — has announced that this country is not going to see a foreign influence registry before next fall.
This is another example — despite the urgency by both the public and the media — of so many cases where we currently see our national security has been compromised, yet your government continues to vacillate on this issue and bury its head in the sand, always taking an extraordinary amount of time to respond to the globe’s biggest bully: the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing.
Why is the government so reticent in taking a hard stand to protect Canadians of Chinese descent, as well as so many other Canadians of the diaspora who are being intimidated and threatened?
Why doesn’t your government embrace Bill S-237 — a private member’s bill that has been lingering in this house for 15 months? Take the bill, mould it, send it to committee, build in the elements that the government wants and expedite it out of this chamber, which the government can do quickly, given the fact that the majority of senators here continuously vote for what they wish. Get it over to the House, where there is a political will to deal with this. Why are we waiting until next fall? What is going on?
Thank you for your question. The minister engaged in consultations with key stakeholders and the Canadian public so that the path forward can be fully informed by all relevant considerations. Those consultations have borne fruit.
It’s my understanding that the government is, in fact, drafting legislation, and, indeed, we can expect it in the coming months. This is legislation that is important and will be dealt with and drafted with due care.
Government leader, both in the other chamber and in this chamber, it has been now six years that we’ve been asking about this issue of foreign interference. Semblances of this bill have been tabled back in 2019 by MP Kenny Chiu in the House of Commons. I tabled this bill now 14 months ago. That is a long time. The minister now, for a number of months, has been talking about publicly consulting. What do they need to consult on? We know what needs to be addressed, and this is a potential tool that can be put in place quickly.
Our American allies have done it. Our allies in the U.K. have done it. Our allies in Australia have done it. Why can’t this government do simple things that the public is calling for, that the opposition is calling for and that can take a couple of months to do?
As I said, the government engaged in a consultation with Canadians and stakeholders, and it was the position of the government that it was the appropriate way in order to address this important issue.
It is now taking further steps to draft government legislation, and that will be drafted carefully, with the support of the resources of government, and that will be tabled — my understanding is that we can expect that legislation — within the coming months.
