Madam Speaker, we are back this evening to debate a question that I asked the Prime Minister, a question that arose from constant media coverage and from a parliamentary intelligence committee report that provided insight on the infamous 11 parliamentarians who were in the pocket of the Chinese Communist Party.
I asked the Prime Minister if he had trouble sitting at the cabinet table, as he must have wittingly known that at least one of his ministers may not have been working in the service of Canada. The Prime Minister knew he could not defend the indefensible, so instead of answering the question, he attacked my question by theatrically stating that I was displaying “irreverence and unseriousness in a place that deserves a serious contemplation of issues of national security”. What is disgraceful, very serious and irresponsible is the continuous refusal of the Prime Minister to name those individuals and provide information that he sat on for several months to the appropriate authorities so that a badly needed investigation can be launched, charges can be laid and our courts can determine the guilt or innocence of those who remain kept in seclusion.
It is obvious that the Prime Minister is in denial or completely unaware that he is not above the law. Moreover, he is equally clued out in understanding that nowhere is it written that a prime minister has the power to obstruct justice and override the Criminal Code of Canada. It is unconscionable that the Prime Minister has ignored all efforts for these 11 individuals to be identified and for the laws of Canada to be applied.
The Criminal Code is clear on the issue of treason, and unlike the Prime Minister, most Canadians believe that the Criminal Code is the law of the land and that laws are there to protect Canadians, not to protect Liberals or anyone else who sells out their country for political or financial gain. The code is not some plaything of a prime minister. It is incumbent on a prime minister to act to protect Canadians and our democracy from those who are out to subvert our institutions. That is the duty of a prime minister.
I find it passing strange that the Prime Minister is concerned about the opposition leader's security clearance when the Prime Minister is shielding the investigation and prosecution of those who are in league with agents of foreign interference, including at least one cabinet minister. As long as those 11 traitors remain unnamed and uninvestigated, the Prime Minister is in fact abetting foreign interference and protecting those in the pocket of Beijing. Why?
There is no defending the indefensible. No matter what is in the parliamentary secretary's talking points, for the leader of the Liberal Party to cover for 11 traitors who are in the pocket of the Chinese Communist Party and who are escaping justice is an affront to Parliament and to all Canadians. Those 11 individuals remain in the protected custody of the Prime Minister, who, by his own actions, is in contempt of our laws and of the administration of justice. What is the Prime Minister so afraid of? Is the Prime Minister afraid to release the 11 names because of who they are or the roles they hold in the government, in his own caucus or in the Liberal Party?
I will ask once again a very simple question of the government: Will it release the names, yes or no?