Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has joined a growing list of officials and politicians who are calling for a public inquiry into allegations of Beijing’s interference in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
“Conservatives are announcing today we support an independent and public inquiry,” Poilievre said while speaking to reporters in Ottawa on March 1.
Poilievre said that his party has a number of conditions it is requesting the Liberal government follow if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agrees to call the inquiry.
“It has to be independent,” he said. “All parties in the parliament must agree on who the commissioner is. We cannot have yet another Liberal crony named to head up this inquiry.”
Poilievre also said the inquiry should be public.
“We can’t simply bury it behind closed doors and have it in secret while Canadians are left in the dark, potentially with another election interfered in before the results of the commission [are released],” he said.
Poilievre told reporters that he accepts the results of the 2021 federal election, but said Ottawa needs to find a way to “more quickly blow the whistle” on future attempts of foreign interference.
“We need a quick, simple, direct process to alert the public and the system if a foreign government is actively interfering in an election or intimidating voters,” he said.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet also called on March 1 for a public inquiry chaired by a commissioner chosen by Parliament rather than the government.
The calls for an investigation follow recent media reports by the Globe and Mail and Global News citing secret CSIS documents and sources that showed widespread election interference efforts by the Chinese regime in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
