Poiliviere Calls Trudeau’s Rapporteur to Investigate Interference a ‘Fake Job’

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks to reporters in Calgary on Feb. 17, 2023. The Canadian Press/Dave Chidley

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said the prime minister’s “independent rapporteur” to investigate foreign election interference will not be “independent.”

“He could pick someone independent, but he won’t,” Poilievre told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday. “He'll pick another Liberal establishment insider—a real Ottawa insider with some gray hair who looks like a reasonable fellow, but we all know that it will be someone tied to him, tied to the Liberals, here to protect the Liberal establishment.”

He cited as evidence Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent appointment of Morris Rosenberg to head a panel examining foreign interference. Rosenberg was the CEO of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation in 2016 when it received donations of $200,000 from Zhang Bin, a wealthy Chinese businessman.

Trudeau announced on Monday that his government would appoint an “eminent Canadian” as an “independent special rapporteur” on the issue of interference. He said that, while the Liberal government will make the appointment, he’s open to listening to recommendations from other parties.

All parties and the House of Commons should approve anyone heading the investigation into interference, Poilievre said. Trudeau’s proposed rapporteur sounds like a “fake job,” he said.

Trudeau is trying to keep the investigation secretive and in his government’s control, Poilievre said, but Conservatives are calling for it to be open and truly independent.

Calls for a public inquiry are partisan, Trudeau said Monday, and the rapporteur will decide if that’s a necessary step.

In the meantime, the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (a committee that reports to the prime minister) and the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency will be reviewing matters related to election interference.

Whistleblowers

Poilievre characterized the leak of Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) documents to the press as an “uprising at our intelligence body.”

On Feb. 17, The Globe and Mail published information from the top-secret documents detailing Beijing’s attempts to interfere in the 2021 federal election.

The documents said two goals of the Chinese Communist Party were to have a minority Liberal government elected and to defeat Conservative MPs it deemed critical of the regime.

“It’s unbelievable. In the history of our country we never had an intelligence service as preoccupied with a prime minister and his collaboration with a foreign power, willing to release that kind of information,” Poilievre said in French.

“They’ve been warning him for years about this and what has he done? He’s covered it up and even encouraged it to continue,” Poilievre said.

Trudeau told reporters in Djerba, Tunisia, on Nov. 20 that he was never briefed about officials receiving money from China. He was, however, briefed on election interference multiple times, he told reporters in Ottawa on Dec. 14.

“Foreign interference is a real thing, against our institutions, against communities, against Canadians,” he said. “I get briefed up on it all the time. And our intelligence and security agencies continue to act responsibly and ensure that we’re minimizing and avoiding any serious impact on Canadians.”