Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested Wednesday that Canadian intelligence agencies have information that multiple Conservative politicians are “engaged” in or at risk from foreign interference schemes.
But Trudeau later admitted that list of names include Liberal politicians as well as those from “other parties,” without expanding on what the parliamentarians were suspected of doing.
In shocking testimony at the foreign interference commission Wednesday morning, Trudeau took aim at Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre for refusing top secret briefings on a national security threat that allegedly has penetrated his own party.
“Because I am prime minister and privy to all these informations, I have the names of a number of parliamentarians, former parliamentarians and/or candidates in the Conservative Party of Canada who are engaged or are at high risk of or for whom there is clear intelligence around foreign interference,” Trudeau told the commission’s lawyers.
“And I have directed CSIS and others to try and inform the Conservative Party leader to be warned and armed to be able to make decisions that protect the integrity of that party and its members from attempts at foreign activities around foreign interference.
“The decision by the leader of the Conservative Party to not get those classified briefings means that nobody in his party, not him, and nobody in a position of power knows the names of these individuals and can take appropriate action.”
Trudeau called it “bewildering” that Poilievre has so far refused to accept the briefings from Canada’s national security agencies. Poilievre has argued that accepting the top-secret briefings would prevent him from asking questions about foreign interference in the House of Commons – something that has not prevented NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh or Green Party Leader Elizabeth May from receiving the information.
Poilievre shot back in a statement Wednesday afternoon, calling on Trudeau to release the names of all MPs that have “collaborated” with foreign governments and accusing the prime minister of lying.
“Furthermore, my chief of staff has received classified briefings from the government. At no time has the government told me or my chief of staff of any current or former Conservative parliamentarian or candidate knowingly participating in foreign interference,” Poilievre’s statement read.
“If Justin Trudeau has evidence to the contrary, he should share it with the public. Now that he has blurted it out in general terms at a commission of inquiry – he should release the facts. But he won’t – because he is making it up.”
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Justice Marie-Josée Hogue’s inquiry has previously heard testimony that parliamentarians have “wittingly or unwittingly” participated in foreign interference schemes – evidence that echoes the findings of an all-party national security committee of parliamentarians earlier this year.
But neither that committee nor Hogue’s inquiry has given any hint about who those parliamentarians are. The only sitting parliamentarian named in evidence before the Hogue commission is Han Dong, the now-independent Don Valley North MP who was elected as a Liberal.
“The fact that we see, and I’m getting a little more partisan than I tried to in this case, but it is so egregious to me that the leader of the official Opposition, who is certainly trying very hard to become prime minister, is choosing to play partisan games with foreign interference and accusations on foreign interference, but not taking it the least bit serious as regards to his own responsibilities as party leader, or even to get top officials within his party briefed up as they bring on candidates from across the country is inexplicable and, quite frankly, concerning,” Trudeau charged.
In an at-times testy exchange with a lawyer for the Conservative Party, Trudeau dismissed Poilievre’s argument that his chief of staff, Ian Todd, has security clearance and can be briefed on top secret matters.
Trudeau said he “can’t help imagining” how people would react if he delegated the issue to his own chief of staff, Katie Telford.
“Conservative Party members didn’t select Mr. Todd to make decisions about who could run for the Conservative Party of Canada. They expect Mr. Poilievre to take those decisions, but he has decided that he doesn’t want to take those decisions,” Trudeau said.
In an earlier closed-door interview with the commission’s lawyers, Trudeau talked about the difficulty of the government stepping in when other political parties are under threat from foreign interference.
Trudeau pointed to one case, without specifying when, in which his national security and intelligence advisor gave him information about “significant” foreign interference operations related to an opposition party.
“He told his NSIA, CSIS and others at the time that they need a plan to respond. He said this new information was explosive,” the transcript of his in-camera interview read.
“However, it was not good for a democracy that he use his role as prime minister, while also leader of the Liberal Party, to avail himself of information he obtained about potential (foreign interference) involving opposition parties if it could be perceived as being used to embarrass them. The prime minister was open to guidance from the commission on how best to handle such situations.”
Trudeau added that foreign interference issues need to be dealt with in a way that doesn’t tarnish all MPs and that party leaders need to be held accountable for making their parties “resilient” against foreign actors.
The prime minister’s testimony comes just two days after Canada declared six Indian diplomatic officials personae non gratae, including the country’s high commissioner, amidst allegations they were involved in dozens of violent crimes across Canada targeting opponents of the Modi government.
Senior sources familiar with the matter told Global News the Indian agents played key roles in a wave of shootings, killings, threats, arsons and extortions on Canadian soil.
The Modi government has denied the allegations. But Global News reported Tuesday that police have evidence the campaigns were allegedly approved by Amit Shah, India’s second most powerful politician and a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The violence mainly targeted members of the Khalistan movement that supports independence for India’s Sikh-majority Punjab. The movement has long been an irritant in Canada-India relations.
While the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been consistently identified by intelligence agencies as the most active player in foreign interference operations, India’s alleged activities on Canadian soil made headlines last year after the assassination of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia.
In September 2023, Trudeau took the unprecedented step of publicly announcing the Canadian government had credible intelligence linking Indian government officials to Nijjar’s death.
“This was something that we obviously had to take extremely seriously, that violence of sovereignty, of the international rule of law, with extrajudicial killing in a foreign country, in a fellow democracy, was a massive mistake if India had indeed done it and we had reasons to believe that they had,” Trudeau told the commission Wednesday.
Trudeau said Canadian officials attempted to work with their Indian counterparts to investigate Nijjar’s murder but were rebuffed.
“It culminated with a conversation I had with Prime Minister Modi after the end of the last session at the G20 in Delhi, where I sat down, shared that we knew that they were involved and expressed a real concern around it,” Trudeau said of a September 2023 meeting with Modi.
“He responded with the usual response from him, which is that we have people who are outspoken against the Indian government living in Canada that he would like to see arrested. And I tried to explain that freedom of speech and freedom of people who come to our country to be Canadians, to criticize governments overseas or indeed to criticize a Canadian government is a fundamental freedom of Canada.”
Trudeau called the Indian government’s alleged actions a “horrific mistake” and said Canada is considering further action in order to defend its sovereignty.
– with files from Stewart Bell and Mercedes Stephenson.