QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety
Foreign Interference
June 1, 2023
My question is for the government leader, Senator Gold. It is astonishing how little the Trudeau government has done in dealing with foreign interference. Yesterday, this parliamentary chamber had the Minister of Public Safety before us, and, even more astonishingly, when asked two simple questions of when we will have Beijing’s illegal police stations closed down and what date we will have a foreign registry put into place, he could not give this parliamentary chamber an answer. It is unbelievable, government leader.
I will simplify the question for you because I know this government has a hard time with targets. I will allow you to answer broadly. Can you please tell this chamber when you will have these illegal Beijing police stations shut down, and when we will have a foreign registry put into place? You do not have to give me an exact date, but can you please give the Senate of Canada what month and what year?
Thank you for your question. As the minister said yesterday, investigations into the alleged police station activities in this country are under way through the RCMP, which operates independently of the government. Therefore, I’m not in a position to tell you what the results of those investigations will be, nor what action will be taken once the investigations have been completed and the information communicated.
Second, with regard to the foreign registry, as the minister said yesterday, considerable progress has been and is being made, and the government is committed to bringing forth legislation. I believe that he has said publicly that will be in the fall. He wants to make sure that all relevant input is properly considered in the bill because there is a serious, important requirement that the establishment of this does not inadvertently create more burden on those diaspora communities that are affected.
I will also take the opportunity, however, with respect, to correct you in your assertion that the government has done nothing to address foreign interference. Again, this is laid out very clearly in the Special Rapporteur’s report.
The mandate for the Minister of Democratic Institutions and a policy framework were established; the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force was created; the Critical Election Incident Public Protocol was created; the Rapid Response Mechanism was established in coordination with the G7; the Digital Citizen Initiative was created. We also had the constitution and mandating of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, NSICOP, and the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency, NSIRA; the 2022 policy framework; and the 2023 initiatives, including those that are ongoing now. This government is taking it very seriously and is doing the work that needs to be done on behalf of Canadians to protect us from foreign interference.
Leader, everything that you just highlighted was nothing more than navel-gazing. The minister was here yesterday and, yes, he confirmed that there were RCMP investigations ongoing into the illegal Beijing place stations — the same minister who many weeks ago got up in the House of Commons and said to parliamentarians and Canadians that they were all shut down. That is contempt of Parliament. Either he misled Canadians when he said they were all shut down or he intentionally lied. I would hate to believe it was the latter.
Government leader, the truth of the matter is that we have a government that, outside of anything more than discussions, has not taken action. Now we have the minister himself come before Parliament, and he cannot answer a simple question and has actually been caught in the mistruths that he has perpetuated. First he says they were all shut down, and now we find out that they were not shut down. Now we have a vote in the Parliament of Canada asking for this fake rapporteur to step down in a democratic vote, and this rapporteur and the government refuse to respect the democratic will of the House of Commons. Do you call that democracy, and do you call that respect for our institutions of Parliament?
Again, the short answer to your question is that the government is of the view, notwithstanding the motion, which is not binding on the government, that the best way forward remains that which is outlined in the Special Rapporteur’s report and the steps that are going to be taken.
With respect to your question — because there were a number of preambular statements — surely, Senator Housakos, you are not suggesting that the cultural institutions such as the one referred to yesterday by our colleague Senator Woo were in every corner illegal police stations simply because there are allegations that some activities within that large organization that has served the community for 50 years have been alleged to have been illegal, and that is what has been investigated.
It may very well be the case — though I have no information to this effect, because this is not information that the RCMP shares with the government during an ongoing investigation — that certain activities were indeed shut down and may have popped up again. We will not know until the investigations are done. Again, I think it is irresponsible, with all due respect, to categorize these as untruths or “mistruths” — whatever the term was, as Hansard will reveal — or lies, as your leader has just shared with the chamber. I think it is more accurate and responsible to await the results of the independent RCMP investigations into this very serious matter.
