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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has the names of Conservative parliamentarians who are involved in foreign interference.
In explosive testimony before the foreign interference inquiry today, Trudeau said he instructed the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to warn Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and protect the party’s integrity.
“I have the names of a number of parliamentarians, former parliamentarians and/or candidates in the Conservative Party of Canada who are engaged, or at high risk of, or for whom there is clear intelligence around foreign interference,” he said.
“And I have directed CSIS and others to try and inform the Conservative Party leader to be warned and armed, to be able to make decisions that protect the integrity of that party, of its members, from activities around foreign interference.”
The term “parliamentarian” can refer to senators or members of the House of Commons.
Later, under cross examination by Nando De Luca, lawyer for the Conservative Party, Trudeau said the names of Liberal and New Democrat parliamentarians are also on the list of parliamentarians implicated in foreign interference. He cited the riding of Don Valley North.
The inquiry has heard testimony about alleged foreign interference by China in the Liberal nomination contest for Don Valley North in 2019.
The inquiry has seen intelligence summaries from CSIS suggesting that, before the election, it worried international students may have been bused in to take part in the nomination vote and were given fake documents to allow them to vote for Han Dong, who went on to win the Liberal nomination.
Dong went on to win the election as a Liberal but stepped down from the Liberal caucus in 2023 and currently sits as an Independent.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the inquiry into foreign interference Wednesday that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s decision not to get classified briefings means no one in the Conservative Party ‘knows the names of these individuals and can take appropriate action.’
Poilievre’s decision not to go through security screening means that no one in the party is in a position to act on the intelligence or challenge its accuracy, said Trudeau.
“The decision by the leader of the Conservative Party to not get those classified briefings means that nobody in his party, not him, nobody in a position of power knows the names of these individuals and can take appropriate action,” he said.
“It also means nobody is there to stand up for those individuals if the intelligence is shoddy or incomplete or just allegations from a single source.”
Trudeau said he receives intelligence in his role as prime minister but doesn’t use it for partisan gain.
“I don’t believe in using national security information for partisan purposes,” he said.
In a media statement, Poilievre called on Trudeau to name names.
“My message to Justin Trudeau is: release the names of all MPs that have collaborated with foreign interference,” Poilievre wrote. “But he won’t. Because Justin Trudeau is doing what he always does: he is lying. He is lying to distract from a Liberal caucus revolt against his leadership and revelations he knowingly allowed Beijing to interfere and help him win two elections.”
Poilievre said he was briefed by top officials on Oct. 14 about “the matter of foreign interference from India” and his chief of staff has received classified briefings.
“At no time has the government told me or my chief of staff of any current or former Conservative parliamentarian or candidate knowingly participating in foreign interference,” Poilievre wrote.
The inquiry, led by Commissioner Justice Marie-Josee Hogue, was launched in response to media reports which accused China of interfering in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
In her initial report, made public in May, Hogue concluded that while it was possible that foreign interference occurred in a small number of ridings, it did not affect the overall election results.
The inquiry will hold a final set of hearings from Oct. 21-25 to hear from experts on policies the commission should include in its recommendations.
Source: cbc
