Mr. Speaker, since this is the first time I have had a chance to speak about Canada-China relations since the adoption of the motion yesterday, I want to congratulate all my colleagues who were involved in that vote. I recognize especially my colleague from Wellington—Halton Hills as well as my co-chair and the vice-chairs of the Canada-Uyghur Parliamentary Friendship Group. I know some of them are listening. I unfortunately cannot remember their riding names, but I am very pleased by the success of that motion and hope to see the government adopt that policy as well and advance it in following the will of the House of Commons.
When we speak about some of these issues of human rights in China, whether we are talking about the situation in Hong Kong, the situation with Uighurs or other situations, very often the community groups affected by these issues will raise with us as well the significant threat of foreign state interference here in Canada and intimidation of them here in Canada. This is the substance of the question I asked. It was about the steps the Government of Canada must take to protect Canadians from foreign state interference and to prevent elite capture; that is, to prevent the phenomenon by which the government of China tries to use money, blackmail or other kinds of tools to co-opt and control the direction of Canadian institutions.
These are very serious and significant issues. Various committees, such as the review committee of parliamentarians, have flagged the issue of foreign state interference being a defining issue. When I put forward a motion on this topic, Motion No. 55, I was joined on Parliament Hill by a number of Canadians who have been victims of foreign state interference. They spoke of intimidation, threats of violence, threats of sexual violence and just being barraged with intimidating calls and messages in response to their advocacy for democracy and human rights.
It should concern us greatly that the freedoms we cherish in Canada are threatened not only in other countries but also here in Canada for some of our fellow Canadians who are involved in speaking up about these kinds of issues. Questions of foreign state interference, of elite capture, of intimidation of Canadians who are speaking out about human rights issues in China and other countries overseas are very important.
The House of Commons has already passed a motion put forward by our leader that calls on the government to put forward a robust plan to deal with foreign state interference. We have not seen that plan yet, a plan that rises to the level of the challenge we face, in my view. I followed up with Motion No. 55, which calls on the government to work collaboratively with provinces, territories and municipalities in response to foreign state interference and also to offer support to victims.
As part of this issue of elite capture, we recently had John McCallum at the Canada-China committee. When asked questions about what clients he may have worked with previously and the questions that his work might raise about his independence, he told us that he was not able to divulge clients but that he would comply if the federal government brought in a foreign agents registry that tracked some of those questions of potential influence.
We also raised the question of Dominic Barton, our ambassador to China, who previously worked for McKinsey. McKinsey has worked with Chinese state-owned companies, and again there has been no information given. The names of those clients that our ambassador has previously worked with, which may include Chinese state-owned companies, have not been divulged.
In the midst of these legitimate questions about elite capture, the government is not providing information. I wonder if it is prepared to start doing that.