Evidence of meeting #124 for Public Safety and National Security in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was information.
A video is available from Parliament.
October 18th, 2024 / 10:10 a.m.
Liberal
Iqwinder Gaheer Liberal Mississauga—Malton, ON
It's “disinformation”. There's a difference there. Disinformation is when it's actually by design.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
It's not “misinformation”. Okay.
All right. We have an amendment on the floor. The motion as previously amended is now being proposed to be further amended.
Is there any discussion on that amendment?
Ms. Dancho, do you have a question on that?
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
I do, yes. Thank you.
I just wasn't quite clear on where in the motion it would be emphasized, but I don't see any issue with this.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Okay. It's just that when he was talking about it, I felt that he was almost putting it into the bulk of the explainer at the beginning.
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
Is there any further discussion on Mr. Gaheer's amendment?
(Amendment agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])
Did that wrap up your question, Mr. Gaheer? Did you have more?
Liberal
Iqwinder Gaheer Liberal Mississauga—Malton, ON
No. I just wanted to amend the motion.
I thank my NDP colleagues for bringing this motion forward.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
Thank you.
Do we have any more questions or discussion on the motion as amended?
Seeing none, I will call the vote.
(Motion as amended agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])
Thank you very much.
That wraps up our business. Thank you very much, all.
We are adjourned—
NDP
Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Thank you.
This is related to the same subject matter that we have before us. I want to put one more motion on the record for colleagues to consider. It is related to the subject matter at hand. The clerk has digital and paper copies.
It reads as follows:
That, given the Royal Canadian Mounted Police report on violent criminal activities linked to agents of the Government of India from October 14, 2024, the Hogue Commission's identification of foreign interference activities by Russia, Pakistan, China, and Iran, and the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians' special report on Foreign Interference in Canada’s Democratic Processes and Institutions, the Chair reports to the House that the committee calls for all federal party leaders to apply for the appropriate security clearance level in the next 30 days in order to review classified information and take necessary actions to protect Canadians.
Mr. Chair, I think it's important that we move this motion, because all federal party leaders have now received security clearance to review unredacted briefings on this very serious matter—all except for one. I think it's high time, given the revelations we heard on Monday, that we present a united front. I think it's incredibly important for this committee to report back to the House that we recommend this course of action.
I will leave it there, Mr. Chair. I think the motion is self-explanatory.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
This does relate to the matter at hand, I think, very directly, so I will consider it in order.
I see that Mr. Lloyd wishes to speak to this.
Conservative
Dane Lloyd Conservative Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB
Thank you Mr. Chair.
It's our very strong contention as Conservatives that anyone—any member of Parliament, any member of our political parties—colluding with foreign powers to advance the interests of a foreign nation's agenda in our country needs to be named so that Canadians can know. We must be fully transparent and clear the good name of the Parliament of Canada, which has been sullied these past many months by innuendo and allegations that were made without full evidence.
It's the contention of the Conservative Party of Canada that we need to release all those names so that we can we can take appropriate action and move on. We strongly believe that a motion like this, which attempts to force the hand of all federal leaders on the security clearance front, is an attempt to muzzle the Leader of the Opposition from speaking out on the very important issue of foreign interference.
We have to remember that I was raising the issue of foreign interference at this committee years ago, and we were assured repeatedly, by ministers of this government, that foreign interference was not taking place in Canada's elections. We were being reassured that foreign interference was not serious in Canada. This was just two years ago, and due to leaks from CSIS and our security agencies, we have now come to learn that this was not the case and that there were widespread allegations of foreign interference. Sadly, today, with the recent RCMP announcement on Monday, it's escalated to the lives of Canadians being threatened—allegedly—by a foreign government.
How was this allowed to happen? Back in 2015, working in the previous government, I remember that it was unheard of that foreign governments were threatening the lives of Canadian citizens, yet after nine years under this Liberal government, due to its complete lack of action and lack of proactive activity to protect Canada, this was allowed to proliferate in this country.
There are not just allegations against India: There are a number of countries that see Canada and its leadership as a completely soft target for foreign interference. It's a lack of leadership in Canada under this Liberal government and under this Prime Minister, who now decides to try to weaponize the issue of foreign interference for his own political ends to distract from the very real problems his leadership is facing, even within his own party.
To try to weaponize the issue of national security for his own partisan ends is, frankly, disgusting. I find that what this Prime Minister has done is disgusting, and so I move forward with an amendment to this motion. It is that we release the names of all members of Parliament, all parliamentarians, who are alleged to have interfered with...who knowingly colluded with foreign powers.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
Thank you, Mr. Lloyd.
We have an amendment on the floor, and the discussion is on the amendment.
We have Mr. Hallan up next. Do you wish to speak on the amendment?
Conservative
Jasraj Singh Hallan Conservative Calgary Forest Lawn, AB
He moved an amendment, so it's a new speaking list, is it not?
Liberal
Conservative
Jasraj Singh Hallan Conservative Calgary Forest Lawn, AB
I'll speak to the amendment....
Well, I do want to go to a vote.
Liberal
Conservative