Prime Minister Justin Trudeau again rejected calls for an independent inquiry into foreign election interference, claiming there are already several mechanisms in place to examine the issue and ensure the integrity of Canada's elections are maintained.."I think it's extremely important that Canadians are taking such an interest and are so concerned about protecting our democracy," Trudeau told reporters during a press conference on healthcare on Friday..The prime minister has faced growing calls to launch an inquiry after multiple media reports detailed alleged attempts by China to influence the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. The Conservatives, New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois have all called for an independent inquiry into the matter..On Thursday, a House of Commons committee investigating allegations of foreign interference in recent federal elections adopted a motion calling for a public inquiry into the matter. But the Liberals on the committee voted against the non-binding motion, and the decision to investigate the subject ultimately rests with the Liberal government..When asked Friday about the downsides of calling for a public inquiry, Trudeau said it was clear that countries like China have attempted to interfere with Canada's institutions, research facilities, political processes, and elections. But the prime minister said mechanisms the Liberal government put unto place that "weren't in place before we came into office," allowed them to monitor election interference in 2019 and 2021.."But I absolutely hear that Canadians want to be reassured that independent experts are looking at this issue. They want to make sure that all the right questions are being posed of our intelligence and security agencies in a rigorous way to make sure they're doing everything possible, and they want a level of public accountability from those officials," he said..Trudeau said a panel on election interference, composed of Canada's top independent and professional public servants, work with national security experts to monitor what happened during the last two elections. "The independence, the professionalism, the rigor with which they looked at it is something that Canadians can take tremendous reassurance in. The fact is, it was found that our election integrity held absolutely in 2019 and 2021.".Furthermore, according to Trudeau, an independent report analyzing the public servants and security experts did in the 2021 election was just released, which laid out "all the things that were effective and put forward recommendations for how to even improve it in the future." The report was written by Morris Rosenberg, who was formerly the CEO of the Trudeau Foundation from 2014 to 2018.."But on top of that, following our election in 2015, we created something that Canada didn't never had before, which is a committee of Parliamentarians from all the different parties who would get cleared up to the most top secret clearances, so they can look at all the top secret work that our national security agencies are doing, including serious studies they put into election interference and foreign interference in general," Trudeau added..Trudeau said as a result of this, MPs from all parties are able to dig into issues of election interference so they can push cabinet and intelligence agencies to do more to protect Canadians..The prime minister also cited the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, which is currently investigating the issue of foreign election interference. Trudeau said the committee will identify more that the federal government can do to ensure that the country's election integrity continues to hold, and that Canadians remain confident in their institutions..When reporters asked Trudeau about Rosenberg being chosen to write the report, he responded that the decision was made by the professional public service. They wanted someone who had worked for multiple different governments of different "partisan stripes," and had a long career in the public service, according to Trudeau.."Mr. Rosenberg certainly qualifies for that. But he was the choice of the professional public service, not at my government," Trudeau said..Trudeau was also asked by reporters if he had been specifically briefed about Liberal MP Han Dong, who the RCMP allegedly warned was being directly supported by the Chinese Communist Party. Trudeau previously refused to answer the question directly, instead speaking about the racism many Chinese-Canadians face..The prime minister answered that his cabinet regularly receives top secret briefings on how they can protect Canadians, "including Canadians from various diaspora communities that serve as parliamentarians, on how we can make sure that they can do their job of representing their communities without being subject to interference from foreign communities."
