The Commission on Foreign Interference has scheduled a meeting for Friday due to a midnight memo released late Sunday evening after key witnesses already testified. The China Inquiry wrapped Wednesday evening with the testimony of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. However, a censored, top secret memo proving the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) was warned of illegal activities by Chinese agents was disclosed by federal lawyers, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. The memo was prepared for CSIS director David Vigneault. Vigneault testified at the inquiry April 4. However the document was not disclosed to China inquiry lawyers until April 7. “What is the nature of these documents?” asked Sarah Teich, counsel for the Human Rights Coalition, at the Commission on Foreign Interference.“Are these briefings? Were these notes?”The document, composed by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), is dated February 21, 2023 and indicates the PMO that day was told of unlawful election interference by the Chinese Communist Party in Canada..Illegal activities were an “existential threat to Canadian democracy,” wrote CSIS. Trudeau at the time denied he was ever told of felonies involving foreign agents.“What is the Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s testimony in terms of what was told to the Prime Minister’s Office?” asked Teich. “If they did not share the information contained in this briefing, presumably notes, why not? Who wrote them? At whose direction? There are many unanswered questions.”Lawyers persuaded the commission to recall Vigneault for questioning on Friday. “Let’s say there was the view developed within CSIS that there was interference but somehow that information didn’t make it to the Privy Council or the PMO,” said Sujit Choudhry, counsel for NDP MP Jenny Kwan. “Then the question would be, why?”PMO staff denied ever seeing the “existential threats” memo.“I would not have been made aware,” testified Janice Charette, who was Privy Council Chief at the time. Jeremy Broadhurst, 2019 national director of the Liberal Party election campaign, claimed the memo was merely speaking notes. “The speaking points, I mean, I am not sure why they would have been prepared for this meeting,” said Broadhurst.Months after the memo was given to his office, Trudeau told reporters he was never told Chinese agents had conducted illegal activities. “Was it briefed up out of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service? It was not,” Trudeau said May 3, 2023. “CSIS made the determination it wasn’t something that needed to be raised to a higher level because it wasn’t a significant enough concern.”
The Commission on Foreign Interference has scheduled a meeting for Friday due to a midnight memo released late Sunday evening after key witnesses already testified. The China Inquiry wrapped Wednesday evening with the testimony of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. However, a censored, top secret memo proving the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) was warned of illegal activities by Chinese agents was disclosed by federal lawyers, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. The memo was prepared for CSIS director David Vigneault. Vigneault testified at the inquiry April 4. However the document was not disclosed to China inquiry lawyers until April 7. “What is the nature of these documents?” asked Sarah Teich, counsel for the Human Rights Coalition, at the Commission on Foreign Interference.“Are these briefings? Were these notes?”The document, composed by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), is dated February 21, 2023 and indicates the PMO that day was told of unlawful election interference by the Chinese Communist Party in Canada..Illegal activities were an “existential threat to Canadian democracy,” wrote CSIS. Trudeau at the time denied he was ever told of felonies involving foreign agents.“What is the Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s testimony in terms of what was told to the Prime Minister’s Office?” asked Teich. “If they did not share the information contained in this briefing, presumably notes, why not? Who wrote them? At whose direction? There are many unanswered questions.”Lawyers persuaded the commission to recall Vigneault for questioning on Friday. “Let’s say there was the view developed within CSIS that there was interference but somehow that information didn’t make it to the Privy Council or the PMO,” said Sujit Choudhry, counsel for NDP MP Jenny Kwan. “Then the question would be, why?”PMO staff denied ever seeing the “existential threats” memo.“I would not have been made aware,” testified Janice Charette, who was Privy Council Chief at the time. Jeremy Broadhurst, 2019 national director of the Liberal Party election campaign, claimed the memo was merely speaking notes. “The speaking points, I mean, I am not sure why they would have been prepared for this meeting,” said Broadhurst.Months after the memo was given to his office, Trudeau told reporters he was never told Chinese agents had conducted illegal activities. “Was it briefed up out of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service? It was not,” Trudeau said May 3, 2023. “CSIS made the determination it wasn’t something that needed to be raised to a higher level because it wasn’t a significant enough concern.”
