Mr. Speaker, again we find ourselves here today talking about the very foundation of our country, that is, our democratic institutions. What we have seen over the last several years under the Liberal Prime Minister is the steady erosion in the trust Canadians have. Why is that?
The question I put to the government that was insufficiently responded to as it provided no answer, a non-answer, it deflected it, as it often does, was with respect to the Communist dictatorship in Beijing having paid $140,000 to the Trudeau Foundation. What did it get in exchange for that? Direct access to the current Prime Minister and his brother.
The parliamentary secretary who will respond tonight will say that the Conservatives want to make this about the Prime Minister himself. This is about Canadians. This is about Canadians who deserve to have confidence in their democratic institutions. What have we heard over and again? What has the House said over and again? That we need a foreign agents registry. We need to know who is operating in this country. There need to be consequences for individuals who operate outside the law in an attempt to further the efforts of our adversaries, like the dictatorship in Beijing.
It is important that our allies are able to have confidence in us, just as it is important for Canadians to have confidence in our democratic institutions. We look at our Five Eyes partnership, NATO, NORAD and the G7. There are new alliances forming around the world with some of our traditional allies, like the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, as examples. Who is missing from that partnership? We are, and they do not miss us because they cannot trust what is happening under the Liberal government.
Our reputation on the world stage continues to take hit after hit, as we saw as recently as Friday when, through either the willingness or incompetence of the Prime Minister, we had a Nazi in the gallery of this place, recognized by the Chair occupant when the government had a responsibility to protect Canadians, our reputation and our guests, including a war-time president from another country we are supporting. The embarrassment that Canadians and parliamentarians have felt over the last few days after Friday's failure by the Prime Minister is going to continue to erode the confidence of our allies, just like the confidence of Canadians is eroded in our democratic institutions.
Canadians deserve better. That is why we need a foreign agents registry. We need it now. The Liberals dithered and dragged their feet on having a public inquiry into foreign interference. Let us have that foreign agents registry so we can restore the confidence of Canadians in our democratic institutions. Will the Liberals do it?