Questions about whether the Prime Minister’s Office was briefed on alleged Chinese interference in the 2019 election dominated question period again on Wednesday — with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling suggestions that he isn’t loyal to Canada “despicable.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre tried multiple times Wednesday to get the prime minister to respond to allegations that he and his national security adviser were warned that Chinese government officials were funnelling money to Canadian political candidates — despite their claims to the contrary.
According to reporting by Global News, the Privy Council Office prepared a report for the Trudeau government warning that Chinese officials in Toronto had disbursed money to a “covert network tasked to interfere in Canada’s 2019 election.”
“A large clandestine transfer of funds earmarked for the federal election from the PRC Consulate in Toronto was transferred to an elected provincial government official via a staff member of a 2019 federal candidate,” the report says, according to Global.
Global reported similar allegations back in November — that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) briefed Trudeau in January 2022 on Chinese efforts to interfere in that election. The interference reportedly included the Chinese government sending money to at least 11 candidates.
“We have no information on any federal candidates receiving money from China. That is still the case,” Trudeau said in the House of Commons Wednesday.
WATCH: Trudeau cites MPs’ meeting with far-right politician as Poilievre presses on election interference
During question period, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dodged questions from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on election interference and shot back with a reference to a meeting between far-right German politician Christine Anderson and Conservative MPs.
Poilievre asked all the questions directed at the prime minister Wednesday. He pressed Trudeau to state which staffers received briefings and “how much his party got in illegal donations funnelled from Beijing.”
“He’s not interested in protecting the safety of the people serving this country. He’s interested in protecting the Liberal Party of Canada,” said Poilievre.
The day before, the Conservative leader suggested to reporters that security officials have been leaking allegations about election interference to the media because they “must be very worried about how the prime minister is working against the interests of his own country and his own people.”
“And so they are so concerned about how the prime minister is acting against Canada’s interest and in favour of a foreign dictatorship’s interests, that they are actually releasing this information publicly,” he said Tuesday.
Trudeau said it was “despicable” for an MP to question the loyalty of another member of Parliament.
“To suggest that anyone in this house isn’t devoted to serving Canadians, and keeping those who serve Canada in dangerous positions safe, is quite disgusting,” he said Wednesday during a rowdy exchange with the opposition.
The Conservative leader responded that “no drama lesson” would distract him from his questions and, again, pushed for more information about the alleged funding.
“I’ve asked it multiple times. I find it incredible that he can’t stand up and answer with a zero,” Poilievre said.
Trudeau then suggested Poilievre was trying to backtrack “from his heinous and disgusting accusations of disloyalty to Canada.”
The testy question period followed weeks of questions about China’s interference in the past two elections and what the federal government knew about it.
A panel of civil servants set up to monitor for foreign meddling during the last two elections said that while they did observe attempts at interference, it did not reach a level that would have threatened the integrity of the results.
Speaking to reporters earlier in the day, Trudeau deflected specific queries while acknowledging Canadians have unanswered questions about China’s role in the past two elections.
WATCH: Trudeau questioned about foreign interference claims
On his way into a caucus meeting, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau explained the creation of the special rapporteur looking into election interference when reporters pressed him for more answers on his knowledge of the situation.
He suggested a recently announced special rapporteur and two intelligence agencies are better placed to look into what kind of information was shared with whom.
“To be quite honest, I know that no matter what I say, Canadians continue to have questions about what we did and what we didn’t,” he told reporters on Parliament Hill Wednesday.
“It is of concern to people that China continues to try to interfere, and other countries are interfering in our democratic processes.”
Trudeau’s national security and intelligence adviser, Jody Thomas, told a committee in December she saw no evidence that any candidates in the 2019 federal election were influenced by money from the Chinese government.
“The news stories that you have read about interference are just that — news stories,” Thomas said.
“I’ll just say it — we’ve not seen money going to 11 candidates, period.”
On Wednesday, Trudeau said a recently announced special rapporteur will “dig deeply into everything anyone knew at any point.”
He has also tasked two intelligence watchdogs — the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) and the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) — to look into the allegations and how the intelligence agencies responded.
He said they “have access to all top-secret documents, all briefings that might have been made or could have been made, or were not made from CSIS.”
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Trudeau’s responses to questions on this topic have been lacking.
“The prime minister is signalling that he’s not taking this seriously and is somewhat being dismissive and also in his action is seeming like there’s more and more to hide. All of this is not helping Canadians have confidence in their electoral system, and it’s why we need to have a public inquiry,” he said before question period
“Let’s figure out what we can do to prevent this and reinforce our election system.”
Trudeau has said a special rapporteur could recommend a public inquiry.
A spokesperson for the People’s Republic of China denies the claim that it interfered in Canada’s elections.
“China always opposes interference in other countries’ internal affairs. We have no interest in and will not interfere in Canada’s internal affairs,” Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told a media briefing Wednesday.
“It’s absurd that some in Canada are making an issue about China based on disinformation and lies.”
Opinion: Brad West been one of the sharpest critics of decriminalization
Published Apr 22, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 4 minute read
VICTORIA — Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West fired off a letter to Premier David Eby last week about Allan Schoenborn, the child killer who changed his name in a bid for anonymity.
“It is completely beyond the pale that individuals like Schoenborn have the ability to legally change their name in an attempt to disassociate themselves from their horrific crimes and to evade the public,” wrote West.
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The Alberta government has legislated against dangerous, long-term and high risk offenders who seek to change their names to escape public scrutiny.
“I urge your government to pass similar legislation as a high priority to ensure the safety of British Columbians,” West wrote the premier.
The B.C. Review Board has granted Schoenborn overnight, unescorted leave for up to 28 days, and he spent some of that time in Port Coquitlam, according to West.
This despite the board being notified that “in the last two years there have been 15 reported incidents where Schoenborn demonstrated aggressive behaviour.”
“It is absolutely unacceptable that an individual who has committed such heinous crimes, and continues to demonstrate this type of behaviour, is able to roam the community unescorted.”
Understandably, those details alarmed PoCo residents.
But the letter is also an example of the outspoken mayor’s penchant for to-the-point pronouncements on provincewide concerns.
He’s been one of the sharpest critics of decriminalization.
His most recent blast followed the news that the New Democrats were appointing a task force to advise on ways to curb the use of illicit drugs and the spread of weapons in provincial hospitals.
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“Where the hell is the common sense here?” West told Mike Smyth on CKNW recently. “This has just gone way too far. And to have a task force to figure out what to do — it’s obvious what we need to do.
“In a hospital, there’s no weapons and you can’t smoke crack or fentanyl or any other drugs. There you go. Just saved God knows how much money and probably at least six months of dithering.”
He had a pithy comment on the government’s excessive reliance on outside consultants like MNP to process grants for clean energy and other programs.
“If ever there was a place to find savings that could be redirected to actually delivering core public services, it is government contracts to consultants like MNP,” wrote West.
He’s also broken with the Eby government on the carbon tax.
“The NDP once opposed the carbon tax because, by its very design, it is punishing to working people,” wrote West in a social media posting.
“The whole point of the tax is to make gas MORE expensive so people don’t use it. But instead of being honest about that, advocates rely on flimsy rebate BS. It is hard to find someone who thinks they are getting more dollars back in rebates than they are paying in carbon tax on gas, home heat, etc.”
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West has a history with the NDP. He was a political staffer and campaign worker with Mike Farnworth, the longtime NDP MLA for Port Coquitlam and now minister of public safety.
When West showed up at the legislature recently, Farnworth introduced him to the house as “the best mayor in Canada” and endorsed him as his successor: “I hope at some time he follows in my footsteps and takes over when I decide to retire — which is not just yet,” added Farnworth who is running this year for what would be his eighth term.
Other political players have their eye on West as a future prospect as well.
Several parties have invited him to run in the next federal election. He turned them all down.
Lately there has also been an effort to recruit him to lead a unified Opposition party against Premier David Eby in this year’s provincial election.
I gather the advocates have some opinion polling to back them up and a scenario that would see B.C. United and the Conservatives make way (!) for a party to be named later.
Such flights of fancy are commonplace in B.C. when the NDP is poised to win against a divided Opposition.
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By going after West, the advocates pay a compliment to his record as mayor (low property taxes and a fix-every-pothole work ethic) and his populist stands on public safety, carbon taxation and other provincial issues.
The outreach to a small city mayor who has never run provincially also says something about the perceived weaknesses of the alternatives to Eby.
“It is humbling,” West said Monday when I asked his reaction to the overtures.
But he is a young father with two boys, aged three and seven. The mayor was 10 when he lost his own dad and he believes that if he sought provincial political leadership now, “I would not be the type of dad I want to be.”
When West ran for re-election — unopposed — in 2022, he promised to serve out the full four years as mayor.
He is poised to keep his word, confident that if the overtures to run provincially are serious, they will still be there when his term is up.
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LIVE Q&A WITH B.C. PREMIER DAVID EBY: Join us April 23 at 3:30 p.m. when we will sit down with B.C. Premier David Eby for a special edition of Conversations Live. The premier will answer our questions — and yours — about a range of topics, including housing, drug decriminalization, transportation, the economy, crime and carbon taxes. Click HERE to get a link to the livestream emailed to your inbox.
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