(Ottawa) “There would be here and now in this House those elected voluntarily or naively under foreign influence. What does the Prime Minister intend to do? »
Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet did not get an answer to his question on Tuesday: Justin Trudeau simply assured that the government was taking “all necessary measures” to counter the threat of foreign interference.
This is not the conclusion of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSIC), which criticized the Prime Minister for his inaction in a report in which we learned that Canadian MPs and senators knowingly contributed to the interference efforts of foreign states.
Who are they ? How many are they ? Which political party do they belong to?
The document, partially redacted, does not specify this.
Speculation was therefore rife on Parliament Hill on Tuesday, and the Bloc Québécois tried to find out more during the question period, its leader going so far as to instill doubt in liberal minds, in “this Parliament partly under the influence,” he blurted.
“I particularly invite the Liberal caucus to look at each other and say that there are possibly people among them under foreign influence, and during their next caucus, to talk to each other so that we can identify who it is,” asserted Yves-François Blanchet.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc reiterated the call for caution that he had made the day before. “You have to be very careful when talking about intelligence details in a public context,” he argued, saying he had confidence in national security agencies.
“The Prime Minister is failing to protect our democracy,” worried New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh, criticizing Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre for a “refusal to condemn the Indian government of [Narendra] Modi.” .
The Conservative Party did not ask any questions on the issue of interference during Tuesday’s session.
“This is a serious, serious problem,” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said at a press conference Tuesday morning. She also argued “that as a political party, we must and we will follow up internally.”
According to the report released Monday by the CPSNR, “certain parliamentarians are, according to the intelligence services, half-willing or half-willing participants in the interference efforts of foreign states in the country’s politics.”
Members of Parliament are said to have done so by providing confidential information to representatives of the Indian government, according to the document from this committee, which is made up of elected representatives and senators who have top secret security clearance and are bound to secrecy for life.
The classified version of the report was submitted to the Prime Minister on March 22.