Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland did not share details about an internal party review on foreign collusion, and instead mentioned the upcoming work of the public inquiry on the issue.
When questioned about the internal review by reporters on June 18, Ms. Freeland said foreign interference is “entirely unacceptable in our political system and that is why the government has expanded the mandate of the Hogue inquiry to include a review of these materials.”
“We are having many conversations about this and that’s the right thing to do,” she added. “These are very delicate security matters.”
“For me and for us obviously, as a political party, we have to and we will do a follow-up internally,” said the minister.
The public version of the NSICOP report released on June 3 says that unnamed Members of Parliament “began wittingly assisting foreign state actors soon after their election.” China and India are named as the countries implicated.
Conservatives have called on the government to release the names of parliamentarians involved, whereas ministers have said doing so would be “irresponsible” and breach secrecy laws.
Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre has maintained his stance of not obtaining a clearance. His spokesperson told The Epoch Times that MPs who get a clearance are “sworn to secrecy on what they learned. That would in turn prevent them from speaking or acting on the information.”
Since the NSICOP report came out, the House of Commons adopted a motion asking the mandate of the Foreign Interference Commission to be expanded to examine the issue of foreign collusion.
Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue said on June 17 said the review would be conducted under the current terms of reference of the inquiry.
The commission, in its early May interim report, said that foreign interference did not impact the overall results of the last two elections but that some ridings may have been impacted. A final report is due by the end of 2024.
