Citizenship and Immigration committee  I don't know.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Members, please take your seats so we can start. For this panel, we have Ms. Fox and Ms. Kingsley with us. We will go directly into the round of questioning. We will start with Mr. Kmiec for six minutes. Mr. Kmiec, please go ahead.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  He's joined by two senior officials from the department: Christiane Fox, deputy minister, and Michèle Kingsley, assistant deputy minister, operations. Welcome. The minister will be with us for the first hour. The officials will stay for the second hour to answer questions. Minister, you have five minutes for your opening remarks, and then we'll go into a round of questioning.

Democratic Institutions  The Conservative Party, the Bloc Québécois, the NDP, every community that has fallen victim to Chinese interference, former chief electoral officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley, and former Liberals, such as Gerald Butts, are calling for a public inquiry. Who is being partisan on the interference file?

Business of Supply  Kingsley is telling us that Mr. Johnston did not even consult Elections Canada senior officials in the course of his investigation. If foreign interference into elections was the main reason to call for a public inquiry, why did Mr.

Privilege  Kingsley also rejected the argument that a public inquiry could compromise public safety. He stated that public safety is there to protect democracy, not the other way around. The government has sought to put off a public inquiry for a long time citing public security concerns.

Business of Supply  When it became clear, known and documented that there had been Chinese interference in the Canadian electoral process, and not just in one way on one occasion, only one outcome was possible: a public, independent commission of inquiry. That idea was supported by the former chief electoral officer, Jean-Pierre Kingsley, and by the former director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS, Richard Fadden. What did Ottawa do? First, they dismissed the idea of an inquiry, saying that that posed a public safety risk because secret information could be revealed and sources compromised.

Business of Supply  We in the Bloc Québécois are not alone in calling for an independent public inquiry. Jean‑Pierre Kingsley, a former chief electoral officer for Elections Canada, said in March on Radio‑Canada, “Canadians need to know what happened. Until there is a public inquiry, information will come out in dribs and drabs and people are going to pay the price for that”.

Democratic Institutions  Speaker, Morris Rosenberg, the author of the independent report on foreign interference in the elections, wants an independent public inquiry. Jean-Pierre Kingsley, a former chief electoral officer of Canada, wants an inquiry. Gerald Butts, the former adviser to the Prime Minister, wants an inquiry. The House of Commons wants an inquiry. Canadians want an inquiry.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I would like to know your opinion about what the former Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Jean-Pierre Kingsley, told Radio-Canada in response to the various leaks about interference. I quote him: Canadians have to know everything about what has happened. As long as there is no public inquiry, we will be going one drop at a time and people are going to pay a high price.

Committees of the House  The former director of CSIS Richard Fadden has said that a public inquiry is absolutely warranted. Jean-Pierre Kingsley, a former director of Elections Canada, has said that as well. This is very relevant, and I will come back to that in just a moment. Gerald Butts, the former chief of staff to the Prime Minister, has also stated that it is important to have a national public inquiry.

Business of Supply  The former director of CSIS, Richard Fadden, also said that a public inquiry was absolutely necessary. Jean‑Pierre Kingsley, a man for whom I have an enormous amount of respect, also called for a national public inquiry, as the former head of Elections Canada. Artur Wilczynski, a former senior official at the Communications Security Establishment, is calling for an inquiry as well.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Our political system and our electoral system are being discussed around kitchen tables, because people are not sure if they can trust our institutions anymore. We know that many people with a lot of experience—Richard Fadden, Jean-Pierre Kingsley, Gerald Butts, Artur Wilczynski and even my leader, Jagmeet Singh—have all asked for a public inquiry. I fundamentally believe that the process needs to be transparent, public and independent.

Democratic Institutions  Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the experts. Jean-Pierre Kingsley, the former chief electoral officer, Gerald Butts, a former advisor to the Prime Minister, and even Morris Rosenberg, all agree that there needs to be a public inquiry on the integrity of our elections.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I know you can't take a position on this, but former Chief Electoral Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley also called for a public inquiry into foreign interference by China or Russia. That is significant. I know you can't comment on it, but I feel we're moving towards a public inquiry. In fact, the committee is going to discuss it in a few hours.