Madam Chair, I will address Mr. Fergus through you.
I think this is the appropriate question, in that there has been a failure to share information on Mr. Chong's situation, which was very serious. This situation, which should concern all parliamentarians, is of great concern to our government. The fact that the information did not get to the Minister of Public Safety, at the time, nor to his boss, the Prime Minister, is not acceptable. As we said at the very beginning, this is precisely why the Prime Minister has mandated our colleague, the Minister of Public Safety, to issue new instructions, specific and in writing, to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
I've seen drafts and I know it's being done, but I can also assure you, given that the Prime Minister has spoken about it publicly as well as privately, at meetings where I was present, that federal agencies are already becoming apprised of these instructions. When the Prime Minister was advised of the situation, he asked the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to inform Mr. Chong, based on the information available to them, of the disturbing circumstances surrounding this allegation, which was done. As I don't have a roadmap, I'm answering from memory. It's essential to have accurate information during this kind of discussion, which is why I make sure to add a small reservation to what I say.
Your colleague Mr. Cooper alluded to statements made by the Prime Minister. It's true that he was informed of the situation when he read about a public debate in a newspaper. Subsequently, the Prime Minister's National Security and Intelligence Advisor also spoke to Mr. Chong to correct information or provide him with more details, which may not have been very obvious at the time of the first meeting. However, as I didn't attend these meetings, I'm basing this partly on what I've seen in the public context.
The lesson we need to learn from this is that all of our parliamentary colleagues, in both the House of Commons and the Senate, need to be notified when there is a potential threat, and offered tools as well as advice from national security experts on how to protect themselves and their families, as well as their staff. The best way to ensure that these attempts at interference don't result in contaminated election results is to take a defensive stance, which is what the government has always done.
The idea, I think, is to help our parliamentary colleagues become aware of these threats, of the tactics of certain countries. China is not the only country involved, as we've stressed on numerous occasions. Indeed, other countries have attempted to interfere, and not just in Canada. I think we'll have to make an ongoing effort and make sure we take all the necessary measures.
