Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is pushing back against a recent news report that alleges security officials urged the Liberal Party to rescind the nomination of one of its MPs.
“In a free democracy, it is not up to unelected security officials to dictate to political parties who can or cannot run,” the prime minister told a news conference Monday.
Trudeau was responding to a question about a Global News report that suggests Liberal MP Han Dong was allegedly helped by the Chinese consulate while running in the Toronto-area riding of Don Valley North during the 2019 election.
WATCH | Trudeau says CSIS can’t tell parties who should and shouldn’t run for office
Trudeau says it’s not up to CSIS to tell parties who should and shouldn’t run for office
5 hours ago
Duration 4:49
Answering questions about alleged efforts by China to influence the last election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that part of CSIS’s work is to inform political parties and individuals of ‘potential influences they may be faced with.’
The report cites anonymous sources that alleged the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) urged senior Liberal Party staff to rescind his nomination, but Trudeau approved his candidacy.
“The suggestions we’ve seen in the media that CSIS would somehow say, ‘No this person can’t run or that person can’t run,’ is not just false. It’s actually damaging to people’s confidence in our democratic and political institutions,” Trudeau said Monday.
Stephanie Carvin, associate professor of national security at Carleton University, questioned the suggestion that CSIS would ask that a nomination be rescinded.
“CSIS’s mandate allows it to report on threats to the security of Canada. I do not think this would extend to ‘asking’ the [Prime Minister’s Office] to rescind a nomination,” Carvin wrote in a tweet.
Han Dong celebrates with supporters while taking part in a rally in Toronto on May 22, 2014. The former MPP and current MP is denying a report that alleges China helped him win a 2019 Liberal candidate nomination contest. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)
Dong said in a media statement that his nomination and campaign teams have found no indications of irregularities or compliance issues regarding his candidacy or election.
“I have the utmost regard for the integrity of our democratic institutions and electoral processes,” the statement reads.
Dong said all procedures and processes related to his campaign and political career have been publicly reported as required.
Trudeau also defended Dong during Monday’s press conference.
“Han Dong is an outstanding member of our team and suggestions he is somehow not loyal to Canada should not be entertained,” he said.
Opposition parties have called for a public inquiry into allegations of foreign election interference by China.
Trudeau was asked if he would consider calling a public inquiry, but pointed to a House committee study as a means to get answers on foreign interference.
“Openness and transparency is extraordinarily important for our democracies and for active defence of our democracies,” he said, adding that security officials will be appearing before the committee in the coming days.
But committee MPs appeared frustrated by a perceived lack of transparency from security officials during a hearing earlier this month.
Witnesses from CSIS, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) — Canada’s foreign signals intelligence agency — and the RCMP told the committee they could only provide them with a non-classified briefing and could not comment on operational specifics.
At one point, Conservative MP Blaine Calkins held up documents tabled with the committee that were covered with blacked-out redactions.
“It’s really difficult to figure out what we should be doing if we actually don’t know what’s going on,” he said.
“I’m very frustrated right now, with the lack of information, the lack of transparency and the responsibility of trying to figure out how to solve this problem.”
WATCH | Former Trudeau adviser on calls for public inquiry
Canada needs a non-partisan inquiry into foreign election interference, says former Trudeau adviser
3 hours ago
Duration 6:37
“Pull it out of the realm of partisan politics and hand it over to people who are seen as above that particular activity,” says Gerald Butts, former principal secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Former CSIS director Richard Fadden said the a public inquiry would be the best place to get answers about foreign interference.
“The House has become very very partisan and I think it will be almost impossible for members of Parliament to look at this in a totally objective way,” he said. “In fact, I think it’s unfair to ask them to do that.”
Fadden also suggested that it would be possible to give those working on a public inquiry access to classified information.
“That does not mean that the commission can make that information public. But it does mean that in publishing their report, we would have the assurance of an objective commissioner that they’ve looked at the material and their conclusions make sense,” he said.
WATCH | Senator urges more ‘transparency’ on alleged Chinese election interference
Senator urges more ‘transparency’ on alleged Chinese election interference
3 hours ago
Duration 11:16
“At this time, the government should air on the side of transparency,” says Sen. Ian Shugart, who served on the 2019 Security and Intelligence Threat to Elections Task Force.
But Sen. Ian Shugart, who once served as clerk of the Privy Council, said that while allowing an inquiry access to classified information might be useful, it might not satisfy calls for transparency.
“There is still going to be in some quarters an appetite for that information,” Shugart told CBC News Network’s Power & Politics host David Cochrane. “I’m afraid that appetite, in large measure, can never be satisfied.”
Still, Shugart said the government “should be as transparent as possible.”
“I would even venture to say that at this time the government should err on the side of transparency,” he said.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
