Thank you, Chair.
Chair, it made me wonder. Let's also remember that in that meeting, no one questioned the interaction as being about the real threats and real issues that diaspora communities are facing around foreign interference. That was not part of the interaction. It was only afterward, when Conservatives took to Twitter to spin and mislead, that this accusation was made.
It made me think about why the Conservatives would, after the fact, try to distract from what really took place in that meeting. I started to do a little bit of a look at why the Conservatives would rather focus on me and have an interaction about heckling, as they heckle me—the irony is not lost on me— and not an interaction on the very real issues of foreign interference.
Well, let's look at some of the things they don't want me to talk about. Some of those things include the fact that in 2010, it was former prime minister Harper's national security adviser, who we had as a witness on foreign interference, who actually advised and warned about the very real threats of foreign interference. Nothing was done.
It was under Mr. Harper's government that Canada was urged to join other Five Eyes countries to create a parliamentary committee for national security oversight. Again, that advice was ignored.
Actually, the crux of my intervention with Mr. Caputo was the fact that he spoke about NSICOP as the only reason we know about these allegations. My interaction, because I could not understand that they were unaware of the irony, was on the fact that it was the Conservative government that actually refused to create NSICOP, and then actually at one point in the last number of years got upset and removed members and put members back.
To now be using NSICOP when it suits them, after they refused to establish it.... I couldn't contain the irony in that interaction. When their current leader was asked why he did nothing to deal with foreign interference while he was the democratic institutions minister, he essentially said that, well, it wasn't politically in their interest to do so at the time.
When we created the motion to establish NSICOP, Conservatives voted against it. We established the SITE election committee, which is a non-partisan oversight committee establishing a mechanism to alert the Canadian public of foreign attempts to interfere in our elections.
Mr. Chair, our government has continuously implemented legislation to deal with foreign interference. We've taken it seriously since we formed office in 2015.
I've continually highlighted the hypocrisy that Conservatives have shown on this issue, and I find it deeply offensive to mislead and misconstrue what actually took place at this committee and the interactions in a way to bury and distract from the fact that the Conservatives' record on foreign interference is pretty abysmal. I find it deeply offensive to suggest that diaspora communities, which have very real experiences of foreign interference, would be treated in a manner to mislead them about what that actual interaction was. I find it deeply concerning. Frankly, I have faith in Canadians to see through the partisan games that are happening here today.
I'll leave it at that, Chair. I find it incredibly disappointing that we even have to engage in this sort of partisan behaviour on an issue that is so important. However, I will not stand here and allow the mis-characterization of what actually took place to go unchecked.
Luckily, we have video and Hansard to clarify the record.
I'll ask for a recorded vote.