Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has told Canada’s spy agency it needs to share more information with the federal government when it comes to threats against MPs and their families following reports that the Chinese government was targeting Conservative Michael Chong and his family.
“We are making that directive now,” Trudeau told reporters on Wednesday.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) “knew about certain things, didn’t feel that it reached a threshold that required them to pass it up out of CSIS or give more than just a defensive briefing to Mr. Chong a few months later.”
On Monday, the Globe and Mail, citing a top-secret document and an anonymous national security source, reported that China’s intelligence agency was seeking information on an unnamed Canadian MP’s relatives “who may be located in the PRC, for further potential sanctions.”
The story goes on to say that MP was Chong, following his support of a parliamentary motion condemning Beijing’s conduct in Xinjiang, a region in northwestern China, as genocide and that Zhao Wei, a Chinese diplomat in Canada, was working on this matter.
The Globe wrote that when it originally reached out to Chong for comment, he said he had no knowledge of this.
WATCH | Conservative MP asks minister when he learned about alleged threats to family:
Conservative MP asks minister when he learned about alleged threats to MP’s family
21 hours ago
Duration 3:02
Conservative MP Michael Chong asks Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino when he ‘first became aware that a PRC diplomat was targeting a member of this House and their family.’
On Thursday Trudeau said he has been following up on the matter and was told that CSIS has been giving Chong “defensive briefings,” a term the agency uses for to mean an educational briefing.
“We asked what happened to that information, was it ever briefed up out of CSIS, it was not. CSIS made the determination that it wasn’t something that needed be raised to a higher level because it wasn’t a significant enough concern,” the prime minister said, adding that is going to change.
“Going forward, we’re making it very, very clear to CSIS and all our intelligence officials that when there are concerns that talk specifically about any MP, particularly about their family, those need to be elevated. Even if CSIS doesn’t feel that it’s a sufficient level of concern for them to take more direct action, we still need to know about it at the upper government level,” Trudeau said.
“When it comes to an MP’s safety, when it comes to their families’ safety, we need to know.”
NDP asks for briefing on MP threats
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, speaking before Trudeau scrummed with reporters, said he found it “very hard to believe” that CSIS would have produced intelligence documents about threats involving an MP and wouldn’t tell the prime minister.
On Thursday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh wrote to Trudeau asking for a meeting with the Opposition leaders “to outline how such threats are received by you and the Minister of Public Safety, what you do with this information and how MPs are kept informed.”
A sign is shown outside the Canadian Security Intelligence Service building in Ottawa. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
“I believe that this is an issue that could impact all Members of Parliament. Any MP could be subject to similar threats. There are members in all our caucuses who have loved ones in countries where they may be subject to threats. I am therefore asking you to urgently meet with all Opposition leader,” Singh wrote.
“Canadians’ faith in their democracy has been shaken by your failure to call a public inquiry into foreign interference as every opposition leader has repeatedly demanded.”
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.
