"What are all of them hiding?" one wonders:
The Liberals have been obstructing a parliamentary committee that has attempted to force Telford to testify on the issue. The Liberals on the committee have mounted a filibuster each time the committee meets to prevent a vote on a Conservative motion to call Telford. They maintain that political staff should not be subjected to hours-long interrogations by MPs. So far, they have clocked 24 hours in speeches.
Blocked at committee, the Conservatives plan to force the House of Commons to vote on the matter next week.
They have tabled a notice on the Parliament’s website that they intend on using their opposition day motion on Monday to call on Telford to appear at one of two parliamentary committees probing Chinese interference in the last two elections. The motion says she would testify for no fewer than three hours and no later than April 14. The vote on the motion should technically take place on the next sitting day, which is Tuesday.
**
Here is something some do not think of:
Trudeau said he only heard about the specifics of the 11 candidates through the media.
That the prime minister did not see, read or know about a report from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service warning of China funnelling money to federal candidates warrants serious questions. In fact, the Conservatives have asked those serious questions in the House but Trudeau’s replies have tended to obfuscate the issue.
But in late February, another Global report was even more specific.
Three weeks before the 2019 elections, national security officials gave an urgent, classified briefing to senior aides from Trudeau’s office. It warned that a Liberal candidate was part of a Chinese interference network.
Quizzed on this, Trudeau repeated to the House that he had seen no evidence of foreign money being directed to Canadian candidates.
“As both myself and the (national security adviser) stated last fall, we have no information on any federal candidates receiving money from China, and that continues to remain the case.”
But if CSIS is right, people in the Prime Minister’s Office did have that information. They knew before the 2019 election that a Liberal candidate, or candidates, was allegedly getting money from China.
And yet it appears they may have made the decision to keep quiet about it and not let the prime minister know. Frankly, if this scenario is correct — and if we are to believe CSIS and the prime minister, it is almost certainly a possibility — then parliamentarians should move heaven and earth to find out which unelected officials are making decisions best left to a prime minister and Parliament.
Is Katie running things for Justin?
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Mulroney testified before the House of Commons house affairs committee on Feb. 7, claiming that China uses proxies to expand influence in Canada through the media, academia and government.
“Here in Canada, Beijing recruits proxies to parrot its talking points; to expand its influence in media, on college campuses and in government; and to launder its illicit financial contributions,” said Mulroney.
“The party’s objective is to transform Canada into a compliant country that perpetually looks over its shoulder to be sure what it says and does meets Beijing’s approval and that looks the other way when Beijing’s extraterritorial reach extends into our communities.”
Mulroney has advocated for the expulsion of Chinese diplomats implicated in interference schemes.
The former ambassador also criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after he announced that former governor general and Trudeau Foundation member David Johnston would head an inquiry into the Chinese interference allegations.
Reports have implicated the prime minister and eleven MPs of benefiting from Chinese influence campaigns.
“In less than 24 hours, the (prime minister’s) proposed measures to address PRC interference have been rendered irrelevant by the growing scope of the scandal. Putting off a full and transparent accounting will only further undermine public confidence,” said Mulroney.
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Ontario MPP Vincent Ke says he is resigning from the governing Progressive Conservative caucus after allegations that he is part of China’s election interference network in Canada, which he denies.A March 10 report by Global News citing intelligence reports and unnamed sources says that Ke served as a “financial intermediary” in China’s interference network in Canada.“While the Global News allegations about me are false and defamatory, I do not want to be a distraction to the government and take away from the good work Premier [Doug] Ford is doing for the province of Ontario,” Ke said in a statement on March 10.“Therefore, I will be stepping away from the PC Caucus in order to dedicate my time to clearing my name and representing my constituents.”
**
China’s diplomatic mission in Vancouver has actively interfered in the city’s politics, using proxies in diaspora community organizations and grooming politicians to run in last fall’s municipal election, according to Canada’s spy agency.A Jan. 10, 2022, Canadian Security and Intelligence Service report viewed by The Globe and Mail outlines how China’s then-consul-general, Tong Xiaoling, discussed mentoring – or as the report quoted her, “grooming” – Chinese-Canadian municipal politicians for higher office to advance Beijing’s interests.Ms. Tong sought to elect pro-Beijing politicians to city council in the October, 2022, municipal election in which incumbent mayor Kennedy Stewart lost to Ken Sim by margin of nearly 37,000 votes.During his term as mayor, Mr. Stewart drew criticism from the Chinese government for suspending meetings with its diplomats after it put sanctions on Canadian MP Michael Chong, a friend of his and critic of Beijing, and strengthening ties with Taiwan, a self-ruled province that Beijing wants to annex.Mr. Stewart said he was briefed in late May, 2022, by CSIS’s regional director and one of the agency’s China specialists about foreign interference in municipal politics. They asked a lot of questions about the attacks levelled at him by Ms. Tong and some Chinese-language media, partly owned by China’s government, he said.
I'm insulted by foreign interventionists who like the idea of controlling Canada's vast resources:
A Liberal-appointed Senator yesterday told reporters it was “deeply insulting” to ask if he had contacts with Beijing. “I don’t like getting these attacks,” said Senator Yuen Pau Woo (B.C.): “People are claiming that I am some kind of a foreign agent.”
The real source of Mr. Yuen's ire is the man behind the curtain.
One must never question the guy who sat on his father's foundation:
One mustn't say anything saucy about David Johnston. One must not rise above one's station.
— Terry Glavin 格立文 (@TerryGlavin) March 16, 2023
To hell with that. Bring it on:https://t.co/Xs2PZrRuH8
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David Johnston literally installed a Chinese spy and propaganda front into the University of Waterloo when he was their president. Johnston should not only recuse himself from his sham investigation, he should be investigated, himself. https://t.co/SEPmc6vQjg
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) March 16, 2023
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With all their filibustering and obstructionist “rapporteur”manoeuvres to draw attention away from the interference operations Beijing ranon their behalf during the 2019 and 2021 elections, the Trudeau Liberals might think they’re being clever. But they’re being too clever by half.
The longer this drags out, the more light gets shed on the squalid and intimate relationship between the Liberals’ political base in this country’s wealthy and well-connected Mandarin-bloc hierarchy and the Ferrari-driving consiglieri of Beijing’s strong-arming and influence-peddling network in Canada. It’s the same circle of power.
We mustn't forget this guy:
Hey, look who’s on the Board of David Johnston’s Rideau Foundation that Justin Trudeau funded #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/7sO5awFX9p
— Norman Spector (@nspector4) March 16, 2023
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