Prime Minister Justin Trudeau under oath at the China Inquiry cryptically claimed Conservative parliamentarians are either vulnerable to or complicit in foreign interference — and he can personally name those involved. Trudeau told the Commission on Foreign Interference he gave instructions to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to warn Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and slammed the opposition leader for not getting security clearance. Poilievre is the only party leader that opted not to go through security screenings that would allow him to know who the spies are, because then he would be prevented from speaking publicly on the matter. “I have the names of a number of parliamentarians, former parliamentarians and/or candidates in the Conservative Party of Canada who are engaged or at high risk of, or for whom there is clear intelligence around foreign interference,” Trudeau said.“The decision of the leader of the Conservative Party to not receive the necessary clearance to get those names and protect the integrity of his party is bewildering to me and entirely lacks common sense.”The prime minister testified Beijing’s meddling increased after he “confronted” Chinese President Xi Jinping during the 2022 G20 summit in Thailand — he said the meeting went well but Xi needed to be told to stop the foreign interference in Canadian elections. Commission counsel Shantona Chaudhury pressed Trudeau on whether he finds it acceptable that it took two years to draft Bill C-70: An Act respecting countering foreign interference, while the Conservatives were pushing for the legislation much sooner. “(The world is) more uncertain and less safe” than ever, replied Trudeau, adding the two-year delay was “absolutely” necessary. “Anytime you are giving more powers to security agencies to counter, in this case, hostile actions by state actors, or any time, in general, you’re giving more power to security agencies to do new things to counter new threats, you have to be very, very careful about the balance you get on protecting citizens rights.”“When C-70 passed, there was criticism that we moved too quickly on it. As you (Chaudhry) highlighted, there’s also criticism that maybe we took too long for it.”
