Another combative Question Period was held Wednesday as Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre questioned the Justin Trudeau government about the CSIS report that showed China threatening Conservative MP Michael Chong’s family over two years ago.. Marco MendicinoMarco Mendicino .“Two years ago, Mr. Speaker, CSIS indicated in a report that a member of Parliament and his family were threatened by a foreign agent,” said Poilievre..“The prime minister says that he didn't know, despite the fact that the former head of CSIS said that the prime minister's adviser was informed and even the chief of staff of the prime minister said that nothing is ever hidden from the prime minister.”.“So how is it possible that the prime minister did not know that this was going on?” asked Poilievre..But the PM skipped QP..“As the leader of the opposition knows full well, the government takes all threats to members of Parliament very seriously, especially from foreign agents,” replied Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino..“And as soon as we were informed of the issue with the member, we said that we would offer a briefing to him he accepted it.”.Poilievre replied: “It's difficult to imagine what information would have been important enough to give to the prime minister if the information on the threat against the member and his family were not important enough to get to the prime minister.".“It's impossible to believe that the prime minister would not have received such information. So either he did not know and he's incompetent, or he knew and he's dishonest, which is true?”.“We are protecting the members of this house and we're going to continue to do so because our members work hard,” replied Mendicino..NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, whose party is propping up the Liberal minority government, also asked Mendicino to provide more details about the threat to a Conservative MPs family..“The revelations of a threat, of threats, against a member of Parliament and his family, those revelations are shocking,” said Singh.. Jagmeet Singh .“And the public safety minister is not saying what he knew about this. He's had 24 hours to refresh his memory. What can you tell us when he was informed of these threats?”.“I must emphasize that there are laws to protect top-secret information,” replied Mendicino..“And we rely on the council of our independent and nonpartisan officials to guide us on decisions regarding information disclosure.”.Chong also asked the government about the CSIS report, specifically about his family and Trudeau’s comments earlier in the day..“Making reference to the July 2021 intelligence assessment. The prime minister said this morning that CSIS made a determination that it wasn't something that needed to be raised to a higher level,” said Chong..“But former CSIS director Dick Fadden said the assessment would certainly have been sent to the departments of Public Safety and Foreign Affairs and the prime minister's National Security Adviser, which appears to have been David Morrison, the current deputy minister of Foreign Affairs.”.“Will the government confirm the prime minister's assertion this morning that the intelligence assessment never made it out of CSIS?” asked Chong..“I can certainly confirm that we are guided by the advice that we get from our intelligence agencies which is strictly governed under the Security of Information Act as my colleague across the aisle knows,” responded Mendicino..Poilievre ended the CSIS report debate by asking where Trudeau is..“We all agree that the government knew about this two years ago. We all agree whether we like it or not,” said Poilievre..“The prime minister is the head of government. In other words, he is responsible for the action or inaction of his own government. In other words, he should have known and he should have taken action. When will he finally show up for work, take responsibility and do his job.”
Another combative Question Period was held Wednesday as Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre questioned the Justin Trudeau government about the CSIS report that showed China threatening Conservative MP Michael Chong’s family over two years ago.. Marco MendicinoMarco Mendicino .“Two years ago, Mr. Speaker, CSIS indicated in a report that a member of Parliament and his family were threatened by a foreign agent,” said Poilievre..“The prime minister says that he didn't know, despite the fact that the former head of CSIS said that the prime minister's adviser was informed and even the chief of staff of the prime minister said that nothing is ever hidden from the prime minister.”.“So how is it possible that the prime minister did not know that this was going on?” asked Poilievre..But the PM skipped QP..“As the leader of the opposition knows full well, the government takes all threats to members of Parliament very seriously, especially from foreign agents,” replied Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino..“And as soon as we were informed of the issue with the member, we said that we would offer a briefing to him he accepted it.”.Poilievre replied: “It's difficult to imagine what information would have been important enough to give to the prime minister if the information on the threat against the member and his family were not important enough to get to the prime minister.".“It's impossible to believe that the prime minister would not have received such information. So either he did not know and he's incompetent, or he knew and he's dishonest, which is true?”.“We are protecting the members of this house and we're going to continue to do so because our members work hard,” replied Mendicino..NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, whose party is propping up the Liberal minority government, also asked Mendicino to provide more details about the threat to a Conservative MPs family..“The revelations of a threat, of threats, against a member of Parliament and his family, those revelations are shocking,” said Singh.. Jagmeet Singh .“And the public safety minister is not saying what he knew about this. He's had 24 hours to refresh his memory. What can you tell us when he was informed of these threats?”.“I must emphasize that there are laws to protect top-secret information,” replied Mendicino..“And we rely on the council of our independent and nonpartisan officials to guide us on decisions regarding information disclosure.”.Chong also asked the government about the CSIS report, specifically about his family and Trudeau’s comments earlier in the day..“Making reference to the July 2021 intelligence assessment. The prime minister said this morning that CSIS made a determination that it wasn't something that needed to be raised to a higher level,” said Chong..“But former CSIS director Dick Fadden said the assessment would certainly have been sent to the departments of Public Safety and Foreign Affairs and the prime minister's National Security Adviser, which appears to have been David Morrison, the current deputy minister of Foreign Affairs.”.“Will the government confirm the prime minister's assertion this morning that the intelligence assessment never made it out of CSIS?” asked Chong..“I can certainly confirm that we are guided by the advice that we get from our intelligence agencies which is strictly governed under the Security of Information Act as my colleague across the aisle knows,” responded Mendicino..Poilievre ended the CSIS report debate by asking where Trudeau is..“We all agree that the government knew about this two years ago. We all agree whether we like it or not,” said Poilievre..“The prime minister is the head of government. In other words, he is responsible for the action or inaction of his own government. In other words, he should have known and he should have taken action. When will he finally show up for work, take responsibility and do his job.”
