Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux, parliamentary secretary to the Government House Leader, has claimed Russia “is spending millions” to aid the Conservative party.Lamoureux provided no evidence and did not respond to questions after leveling the accusation in the Commons, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. “Russia is one of those foreign influencers that is spending millions to prop up the Conservative Party of Canada, if not directly, indirectly,” said Lamoureux.“Is it any wonder why maybe they might have actually voted against a Canada-Ukraine trade deal for suspicious reasons? I’m trying to be nice.”Lamoureux did not explain the accusation. The Canada Elections Act bans “undue influence” and all contributions by any “foreign individual or entity” to a federal party.Government House Leader Karina Gould did not comment. Lamoureux has repeated innuendo against Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre. “There is something in his past that he is hiding,” Lamoureux told MPs November 27.“What is he hiding? He is hiding something. What is it?” Lamoureux repeated November 22. “What is in his background that he is hiding from Canadians?” Lamoureux asked November 21. “That is what it is. He needs to come clean with Canadians.”“What is he hiding?” Lamoureux asked November 18. “Is there something in his past he does not want to tell Canadians?”Members of the Conservative caucus including MPs of Ukrainian descent have expressed outrage over vague accusations of disloyalty.“It is gutter politics,” Conservative MP James Bezan earlier told the Commons.“I want a full apology,” said Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall.“My grandfather came here just before the Holodomor from a Russia that destroyed our people.”“As a Ukrainian descendent it is unbelievable to me,” said Conservative MP Chris Warkentin. Questioning whether Opposition MPs were apologists for architects of “the current genocidal, illegal invasion into Ukraine” was offensive, he said.Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs earlier told the House her in-laws were descendants of Ukrainian homesteaders who settled the Prairies before Alberta gained provincehood in 1905. “There is a very high percentage of Ukrainian Canadians on the Prairies and that is why Conservatives have such a strong record of standing up,” said Stubbs.Cabinet earlier acknowledged fabricating claims that Russia financed the 2022 Freedom Convoy. “There was no evidence foreign state actors or foreign governments were conducting any disinformation campaign against Canada in relation to the convoy,” Department of Justice lawyers wrote in Closing Submissions to the Public Order Emergency Commission.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had claimed protestors “received disturbing amounts of foreign funding.” Then-Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair claimed the Freedom Convoy was “largely foreign funded.” The CBC in a January 28, 2022 broadcast reported “Russian actors could be continuing to fuel things as this protest grows, or perhaps even instigating it from the outside.” The claims were false.
