Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested Wednesday that Canadian intelligence agencies have information that several Conservative politicians are “engaged” or at risk of being involved in foreign interference plots.
But Trudeau later admitted that the list of names included Liberal politicians as well as politicians from “other parties,” without elaborating on what the MPs were suspected of doing.
In shocking testimony before the foreign interference commission Wednesday morning, Trudeau took aim at Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre for refusing to receive top-secret briefings about a national security threat that has allegedly penetrated his own party.
“As I am Prime Minister and am aware of all this information, I have the names of several MPs, former MPs and/or candidates of the Conservative Party of Canada who are compromised or at high risk of or for whom there is clear intelligence around to foreign interference,” Trudeau told the commission’s lawyers.
“And I have ordered CSIS and others to attempt to inform the leader of the Conservative Party so that he is warned and armed to be able to make decisions that protect the integrity of that party and its members from attempted foreign activities around foreign interference.
“The Conservative Party leader’s decision not to receive those classified briefings means that no one in his party, not him, nor anyone in a position of power knows the names of these people and can take appropriate action.”
Trudeau called it “baffling” that Poilievre has so far refused to accept the reports from Canada’s national security agencies. Poilievre has argued that agreeing to the top-secret briefings would prevent him from asking questions about foreign interference in the House of Commons, something that has not stopped NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh or Green Party Leader Elizabeth May from receiving the information.
Poilievre responded in a statement Wednesday afternoon, calling on Trudeau to release the names of all MPs who have “collaborated” with foreign governments and accusing the prime minister of lying.
“In addition, my chief of staff has received classified information from the government. At no time has the government informed me or my chief of staff of any current or former Conservative MP or candidate knowingly participating in foreign interference,” Poilievre’s statement read.
“If Justin Trudeau has evidence to the contrary, he should share it with the public. Now that he has said it in general terms before a commission of inquiry, he should reveal the facts. But he won’t do it, because he’s making it up.”
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Judge Marie-Josée Hogue’s inquiry has previously heard testimony that MPs have “knowingly or unwittingly” participated in foreign interference plots, evidence that echoes the conclusions of a multi-party national security committee of parliamentarians earlier in this year.
But neither that committee nor Hogue’s investigation have given any clues about who those MPs are. The only sitting MP named in evidence before the Hogue commission is Han Dong, the now independent MP for Don Valley North who was elected Liberal.
“The fact that we see it, and I’m getting a little more partisan than I intended in this case, but it’s so appalling to me that the leader of the official opposition, who is certainly trying very hard to become first minister, chooses to play partisan games with foreign interference and accusations of foreign interference, but without taking his own responsibilities as party leader in the least seriously, not even informing his party’s senior officials when they bring in candidates from around the country is inexplicable and, frankly, worrying,” Trudeau accused.
In a sometimes testy exchange with a Conservative Party lawyer, Trudeau dismissed Poilievre’s argument that his chief of staff, Ian Todd, has security clearance and can be briefed on top-secret matters.
Trudeau said he “can’t help but imagine” how people would react if he delegated the issue to his own chief of staff, Katie Telford.
“Conservative Party members did not select Mr. Todd to make decisions about who could run for the Conservative Party of Canada. “They expect Mr. Poilievre to make those decisions, but he has decided he doesn’t want to make them,” Trudeau said.
In an earlier closed-door interview with the commission’s lawyers, Trudeau spoke of the difficulty of the government intervening when other political parties are threatened by foreign interference.
Trudeau pointed to one instance, without specifying when, in which his intelligence and national security adviser gave him information about “significant” foreign interference operations involving an opposition party.
“He told his NSIA, CSIS and others at the time that they needed a plan to respond. “He said this new information was explosive,” the transcript of his closed-door interview said.
“However, it was not good for a democracy for him to use his role as prime minister, while also being leader of the Liberal Party, to take advantage of information he obtained about possible (foreign interference) involving opposition parties if it could be perceived as I used to embarrass them. “The Prime Minister was open to receiving guidance from the commission on how best to handle such situations.”
Trudeau added that issues of foreign interference must be addressed in a way that does not tarnish all parliamentarians and that party leaders must be held accountable for making their parties “resilient” to foreign actors.
The prime minister’s testimony comes just two days after Canada declared six Indian diplomatic officials personae non gratae, including the country’s high commissioner, amid accusations that they were involved in dozens of violent crimes across Canada against opponents of the Modi government.
Senior sources familiar with the matter told Global News that Indian agents played a key role in a wave of shootings, murders, threats, arson and extortion on Canadian soil.
The Modi government has denied the allegations. But Global News reported Tuesday that police have evidence that the campaigns were allegedly approved by Amit Shah, India’s second most powerful politician and a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The violence mainly targeted members of the Khalistan movement that supports the independence of India’s Sikh-majority Punjab. The move has long been an irritant in Canada-India relations.
While intelligence agencies have consistently identified the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the most active actor in foreign interference operations, India’s alleged activities on Canadian soil made headlines last year after the murder of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia.
In September 2023, Trudeau took the unprecedented step of publicly announcing that the Canadian government had credible intelligence linking Indian government officials to Nijjar’s death.
“This was something that we obviously had to take very seriously, that the violence of sovereignty, of the international rule of law, with extrajudicial executions in a foreign country, in a sister democracy, was a huge mistake if India had actually done it and we had reason to believe so,” Trudeau told the commission on Wednesday.
Trudeau said Canadian officials tried to work with their Indian counterparts to investigate Nijjar’s murder, but were rebuffed.
“It culminated in a conversation I had with Prime Minister Modi after the end of the last G20 session in Delhi, where I sat down, shared that we knew they were involved and expressed real concern about it,” Trudeau said of a September meeting of 2023 with Modi.
“He responded with the usual response on his part, which is that we have people who are outspoken against the Indian government who live in Canada and he would like to see them arrested. And I tried to explain that freedom of expression and the freedom of people who come to our country to be Canadian, to criticize governments abroad or even to criticize a Canadian government is a fundamental freedom of Canada.”
Trudeau called the Indian government’s alleged actions a “horrible mistake” and said Canada is considering further actions to defend its sovereignty.
– with files from Stewart Bell and Mercedes Stephenson.
