Conservative MP Michael Chong calls PM’s foreign interference testimony ‘highly irresponsible’ | CBC News
Conservative MP Michael Chong has accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of using his testimony on foreign interference as a platform to “smear” the Official Opposition.
The foreign affairs critic told CBC News on Thursday that Trudeau’s unwillingness to disclose the names of parliamentarians involved speaks to his “motivation about wanting to keep all of this secret for his own partisan purposes.”
“The prime minister used the public inquiry as an opportunity for a partisan attack job to smear the Conservative Party and the Conservative Party leader,” Chong said.
During his testimony before the public inquiry on Wednesday, Trudeau said he has the names of members of the Conservative Party who are engaged in or at high risk of foreign interference.
Chong called that testimony “highly irresponsible” and said Trudeau was being “less than forthright under oath” about his knowledge of events and when they occurred.
“He alone is the one in this land who can make those statements because he has access to the intelligence and he can make that intelligence public,” Chong said.
He noted that Trudeau did not cite the intelligence he has on members of the Liberal caucus potentially involved in foreign interference.
“Canadians deserve to know in the next election which MPs have colluded with foreign powers to the detriment of Canada’s interests,” Chong said, adding that his party is calling on the prime minister to make public the names of MPs of all parties who are accused of helping foreign states.
Poilievre’s lack of security clearance is ‘ludicrous’: Singh
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has come under fire from other federal party leaders for his refusal to date to obtain a top-secret security clearance.
He has resisted going through the security clearance process the federal government has offered to him. That has prevented him from learning about any Conservative parliamentarians and candidates — past and present — allegedly implicated in foreign interference.
Chong said if Poilievre were to undergo the process, he would not be able to speak about the contents of his briefings. Chong also said the government is pointing to Poilievre’s lack of security clearance to distract from its own failings.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office told CBC News in an email sent Thursday that obtaining clearance would allow Poilievre to be briefed on all the information Trudeau spoke about in his testimony.
“Finding out about foreign interference impacting [Poilievre’s] own party, parliamentarians, candidates and leadership race isn’t something he can delegate to his parliamentary staff,” the spokesperson said.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s argument that getting a security clearance would prevent him from speaking out on foreign interference ‘does not carry any weight.’ Poilievre also said in a media statement Wednesday that his chief of staff has received classified briefings. Singh says Poilievre’s statement ‘does not give a lot of confidence that he’s taking this seriously.’
In a news statement issued Thursday, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said that “the only way for Canadians to know that the Official Opposition has not been compromised through foreign interference is for its leader to seek and obtain top secret security clearance.”
“I have urged him to do so since June 2024. With greater urgency, I urge him to do so now,” May added.
At a news conference in Toronto on Thursday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh reproached Poilievre for being “the only federal leader in our country right now” who has not obtained security clearance.
“It is ludicrous to me that someone who claims to want to be the prime minister of this country doesn’t want to know of ongoing and serious threats that impact Canadians,” Singh told reporters.
The NDP leader said “the only reason” Poilievre is reluctant to obtain that information is that he “wants to protect his party above the country,” which he called “absolutely wrong.”
Singh is also calling for the release of the names of parliamentarians who allegedly have been compromised by foreign interference.
He told reporters that none of the intelligence he received concerning former and current NDP members or candidates required him to take “additional steps” to protect the integrity of his party.
In requesting that the names of compromised MPs be made public, he said, he is seeking “as much transparency as possible” without jeopardizing national security and the safety of intelligence officers.
