Pierre Poilievre is irresponsible in the face of foreign interference, says Trudeau

Photo: Sean Kilpatrick The Canadian Press This is the second time Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has appeared before the Hogue Commission on Foreign Interference in Ottawa this year.

During his appearance before the federal inquiry into foreign interference, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of being “irresponsible” in the face of foreign interference when his party is “at risk.”

“Because I am prime minister, I have the names of a number of parliamentarians, former parliamentarians and candidates of the Conservative Party of Canada who are engaged or at high risk or for whom there is clear intelligence about foreign interference,” the prime minister revealed to the commission on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister said he has asked the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to provide information to the Conservative leader so that he is “notified and informed” to protect his party from attempted foreign activities.

Pierre Poilievre has yet to apply for his security clearance to access classified documents and information on foreign interference.

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“That means that no one in his party, not him, not anyone in a position of power, knows the names of these individuals and cannot take appropriate action,” Trudeau continued, calling the situation “inexplicable” and “very concerning.”

“The fact that there seems to be absolutely no curiosity or open-mindedness to try to understand what happened, whether someone was compromised or “If a foreign country had an impact on these leadership races is simply irresponsible,” he added.

This is his second appearance before the Hogue Commission on Foreign Interference in Ottawa this year.

Documents on China

The prime minister also defended his team's decision not to show him certain documents on China's “targeting” of Canadian political actors.

Their content was not “revealing,” Trudeau said. The document in question detailed how Beijing categorizes elected officials: those who are pro-China, those who are anti-China and those who are neutral.

“I don't feel like there's anything in there that I don't already understand and know about how China operates in different areas in Canada,” he said.

Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue has been investigating allegations of foreign interference in the last two federal elections since last year. She is currently conducting the second phase of her work to examine the government’s ability to detect, prevent and respond to acts of interference.

The first phase of her work focused on interference activities by China, Russia and other foreign actors and the impact they may have had on the last two federal elections.

In his first appearance in April, he confirmed that he was aware of allegations of Chinese interference in a 2019 nomination race in the Toronto riding of Don Valley North. However, he did not consider it necessary to remove Liberal candidate Han Dong from the nomination race.

In her interim report, Commissioner Hogue concluded that it was “possible” that foreign interference affected the election results in a handful of ridings in the last two federal elections, but that the integrity of the elections was not compromised.

The commissioner’s report is expected by December 31.