Conservative MP Michael Chong has accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of using his testimony about foreign interference as a platform to “smear” the government’s opposition parties.
The foreign affairs commentator told CBC News on Thursday that Trudeau’s reluctance to name the MPs involved was due to his “motive of wanting to keep all this secret for partisan purposes.” ”, he said.
“The prime minister used the public inquiry as an opportunity for a partisan attack to smear the Conservative Party and its leader,” Chong said.
In testimony before Wednesday’s public inquiry, Trudeau said he knows the names of Conservative members who are involved in or at high risk of foreign interference.
Chong called the testimony “grossly irresponsible,” and said Trudeau was “not speaking candidly under oath” about his knowledge of the events or when they occurred.
“He is the only person in this country who can make these statements because he has access to information and he can publish that information,” Chong said.
He noted that Trudeau did not mention information about members of the Liberal caucus who may have been involved in foreign interference.
“Canadians have a right to know at the next election which MPs have colluded with foreign powers to harm Canada’s interests,” Chong said, adding that his party will release the names of MPs from all parties who have been accused. He added that he is asking the prime minister to make the information public. to help foreign countries.
Poièvre’s lack of security clearance ‘ridiculous’: Singh
Conservative Party leader Pierre Poièvre has come under fire from other Federalist party leaders for refusing to obtain top secret intelligence information.
He has resisted going through the confidentiality procedures laid out by the federal government. As a result, he was unable to learn about Conservative MPs or candidates who have been implicated in foreign interference, past or present.
Chong said Poièvre would not be able to discuss the contents of the press conference if he went through the process. Chong also said the government is pointing to Poyable’s lack of security clearance to distract from its own failures.
A spokesperson for the prime minister’s office told CBC News in an email Thursday that permission would allow Trudeau to brief Poilievre on all the information he discussed in his testimony.
“Examine the influence of foreign interference” [Poilievre’s] “The prime minister cannot delegate matters to his own party, MPs, candidates or leadership contests to parliamentary staff,” the spokesperson said.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Conservative Leader Pierre Poièvre’s argument that security clearance would prevent him from speaking out about foreign interference “carries no weight.” Poièvre also said in a media statement Wednesday that his chief of staff has received a confidential briefing. Singh said Poièvre’s comments “do not give me much confidence that he is taking this seriously.”
In a press statement released Thursday, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said, “The only way Canadians will know that their government and opposition parties are not being compromised by foreign interference is if their leader seeks top-secret security clearance.” “It is important to obtain this information in a timely manner.”
“I have been urging him to do so since June 2024, and I ask him to do it now with even more urgency,” May added.
At a press conference in Toronto on Thursday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh accused Poièvre of being “our only federal leader at this point” without security clearance.
“It’s ludicrous that someone who claims to want to be the prime minister of this country doesn’t want to know about the serious ongoing threats affecting Canadians,” Singh told reporters.
The NDP leader said “the only reason” Poièvre was reluctant to get that information was because he “wanted to protect his party more than his country,” which he called “absolutely wrong.”
Mr. Singh also wants the names of members of Congress said to have been put at risk by foreign interference to be released.
He told reporters that none of the information he received about former and current NDP members or candidates required him to take “additional steps” to protect the party’s integrity.
In requesting the release of the names of the compromised members of Congress, he said he was seeking “the greatest amount of transparency possible” without jeopardizing national security or the safety of intelligence officials.
