Trudeau tells inquiry some Conservative parliamentarians are involved in foreign interference

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has the names of Conservative parliamentarians who are involved in foreign interference.

In explosive testimony before the foreign interference inquiry today, Trudeau said he instructed the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to warn Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and protect the party's integrity.

"I have the names of a number of parliamentarians, former parliamentarians and/or candidates in the Conservative Party of Canada who are engaged, or at high risk of, or for whom there is clear intelligence around foreign interference," he said.

"And I have directed CSIS and others to try and inform the Conservative Party leader to be warned and armed, to be able to make decisions that protect the integrity of that party, of its members, from activities around foreign interference."

The term "parliamentarian" can refer to senators or members of the House of Commons.
Poilievre's decision not to go through security screening means that no one in the party is in a position to act on the intelligence or challenge its accuracy, said Trudeau.

"The decision by the leader of the Conservative Party to not get those classified briefings means that nobody in his party, not him, nobody in a position of power knows the names of these individuals and can take appropriate action," he said.

"It also means nobody is there to stand up for those individuals if the intelligence is shoddy or incomplete or just allegations from a single source."

Trudeau said he receives intelligence in his role as prime minister but doesn't use it for partisan gain.

"I don't believe in using national security information for partisan purposes," he said.

Poilievre's office has not yet responded to a request for comment.
The inquiry, led by Commissioner Justice Marie-Josee Hogue, was launched in response to media reports which accused China of interfering in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

In her initial report, made public in May, Hogue concluded that while it was possible that foreign interference occurred in a small number of ridings, it did not affect the overall election results.

The inquiry will hold a final set of hearings from Oct. 21-25 to hear from experts on policies the commission should include in its recommendations.