Madam Speaker, Canadians deserve transparency from the government when it comes to Beijing's interference in our elections.
That is precisely the advice that the government received from CSIS. It stated that the government's policy in response to foreign interference be guided by transparency and sunlight, and that foreign interference be made known to the public.
The approach of the Liberal government has been to do precisely the opposite of what CSIS has advised. It has been anything but transparent when it comes to the reported vast campaign of interference in the 2019 election by Beijing. The Prime Minister and ministers, for weeks, have refused to answer basic questions about what they know about this interference.
More than that, they have acted as though there is nothing to see and that there is nothing to be concerned about, except we know that is not true. There is indeed plenty to be concerned about from just the very limited disclosure that the procedure and House affairs committee has received, which is undertaking hearings around Beijing's 2019 election interference.
For example, a daily foreign intelligence brief dated February 21, 2020, prepared by the intelligence assessment secretariat of the PCO, which was disclosed to our committee yesterday and is heavily redacted, states, “Investigations into activities linked to the Canadian federal election in 2019, reveal an active foreign interference (FI) network”.
An active foreign interference network is hardly something to be brushed under the rug, yet when I asked the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of Foreign Affairs today at committee, they provided nothing in the way of an answer with respect to what they know about this active foreign interference network from Beijing involved in the 2019 election campaign.
Then there is a briefing to the Prime Minister from CSIS, in which there is a subheading referencing politicians and riding associations that have been targeted by foreign interference. Today when I asked the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs about who the politicians and the riding associations were that had been targeted by foreign interference, his response was as if it was a figment of my imagination, when in fact it is in a CSIS document to the Prime Minister.
When will the Liberals finally take the advice of CSIS, be transparent and tell Canadians what they know about Beijing's campaign interference, what they know about the active foreign interference network in the 2019 election campaign and which riding associations and politicians have been targeted by foreign interference?