MPs on the Procedure and House Affairs Committee decided on Feb. 21 to expand their study of foreign election interference after classified CSIS documents on Beijing’s involvement were leaked in the press.
He decried the fact that, despite this information being available to the government, no individual was charged and no Chinese diplomat was expelled.
The reports mentioned by Cooper refer to articles published by the Globe & Mail based on leaked documents from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and anonymous sources from the security apparatus.
An unnamed Chinese diplomat is paraphrased as expressing unhappiness that the Liberals had recently become critical of China but they were still the best option.
The diplomat added that Beijing “likes it when the parties in Parliament are fighting with each other, whereas if there is a majority, the party in power can easily implement policies that do not favour the PRC.”
The classified documents viewed by the Globe also reportedly captured a former diplomat at the Chinese consulate in Vancouver boasting about helping defeat two Conservative MPs in 2021.
Cooper’s motion requires that the House affairs committee hold as many meetings as required to investigate the issue, and will re-invite ministers and officials who already testified on the matter of foreign interference recently.
Those include Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly and Minister of Interdepartmental Affairs Dominic Leblanc, as well as officials from CSIS and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE).
Cooper also requested to hear from Katie Telford, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s chief of staff, along with former minister of Public Safety Bill Blair and former minister of Foreign Affairs Marc Garneau.
Liberal MP Greg Fergus passed an amendment with NDP support to have them stricken off the list of prospective witnesses.
Fergus also attempted to water down Cooper’s request for an extensive production of documents, but after closed-door deliberations between parties he removed that portion of his amendment to the initial motion.
The committee meeting on Feb. 21 was focused on Globe and Mail reporting, whereas the one on Feb. 9 examined recent reporting by Global News.
The memo said that CCP agents were “assisting Canadian candidates running for political offices.”
Liberal MP Jennifer O’Connell said during the committee that the Conservatives are trying to exploit the situation for political purposes and act like “they’re just waking up to the issue of foreign interference.”
She said they’re only concerned because they lost in the last two elections. The Conservatives, meanwhile, say the Liberals turn a blind eye because they benefit from the interference.
O’Connell called the questioning of election integrity “Trump-type tactics.”
“I think that’s dangerous for Canadians to go down this road, because like I said, we’ve seen our neighbours to the south and what happens when you start demonizing democratic institutions and when you start undermining their legitimacy.”
