The federal Conservatives have slammed the Liberals for picking Michael Rosenberg, a former Trudeau foundation CEO who reportedly received $200,000 from a Chinese official, to write a report on Chinese interference in Canadian elections.."The Trudeau government must ensure that the very credible reports on election interference are investigated in a meaningful and impartial manner, rather than trying to spin them as unimportant as they clearly have tried to do here," Tory leader Pierre Poilievre said in a press release.."This discredits the report and proves we need a separate investigation.".On Friday, Global News reported that Liberal MP Han Dong is an affiliate in China's election interference networks. The article claimed that Dong is one of at least 11 Toronto-area riding candidates that were supported by China in the 2019 election..Trudeau also rejected the accusation that CSIS warned the Liberals not to let Dong run for office, but also said it should not be up to the intelligence agency to choose who becomes an MP. .“In a free democracy, It is not up to unelected security officials to dictate to political parties who can or cannot run,” he said..READ MORE: Liberal MP Han Dong rejects report alleging he was helped by Chinese consulate.The story also alleged that the Canada Security Intelligence Services warned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau not to let Dong run for office, but that warning was ignored. Trudeau responded to the accusation yesterday by saying that “in a free democracy, it is not up to unelected security officials to dictate to political parties who can or cannot run.".Poilievre said the prime minister has repeatedly attempted to "deny, minimize and cover up reports of Chinese interference in Canadian elections. He said there has been a sophisticated effort by the "Beijing Communist Party (CCP)" to interfere in Canada's democracy..The Conservative leader said the hiring of Rosenberg to write the report on foreign interference in the 2021 election raises questions. Poilievre said that while Rosenberg was head of the Trudeau Foundation, he was involved in facilitating a controversial $200,000 donation from CCP official Bin Zhang, who was also involved in Trudeau’s 2016 billionaire cash-for-access scandal. .Poilievre said the Liberals must "cease their obstructionism" and the NDP must stop protecting the Liberals in committee so that Canadians can "finally discover the extent of CCP influence."."Conservatives will also be calling for Mr. Rosenberg to be brought in front of the Procedure and House Affairs Committee to provide answers on this attempt by the Liberals to paper over serious threats to our democracy," they added.
