LILLEY: Trudeau dodges Poilievre questions on China’s election interference

Justin Trudeau was asked 11 times on Tuesday about Chinese interference in Canadian elections.

Each time he was asked, he or his ministers stood and gave a response, but no one could say they answered the questions put to them.

Both Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet pushed Trudeau to answer questions about what he knew regarding Chinese interference in Canada’s recent elections.

“Did they ever inform the prime minister of Beijing’s interference in our elections? Yes or no?” Poilievre asked.

“As I’ve said many times, Mr. Speaker, our security and intelligence services and police take the importance of fighting against foreign interference very seriously,” Trudeau responded. “I can assure the member, and all Canadians, that in the 2019 and 2021 elections, there was no foreign interference in a way that would have changed any of the results in any significant way.”

Poilievre noted that Trudeau didn’t answer the question and instead said there was no impact on the outcome of the election. Once again, Poilievre pushed Trudeau to answer whether he had been briefed on any interference, and once again Trudeau declined to answer the question.

In fact, Poilievre asked Trudeau about the issue of China interfering in Canada’s elections five times in the first round of Question Period and each time, Trudeau refused to give a direct answer.

Recommended video

He spoke about the integrity of the 2019 and 2021 elections; he spoke of an expert panel set up to examine election results, but would not answer if he had ever been briefed on election interference.

Which means he has been briefed, he just doesn’t want to discuss it.

Remember, after Global broke the story of 11 candidates receiving money from China, Trudeau didn’t deny any elements of the story. He and his ministers were asked about it several times, but it was only two weeks after the story broke that Trudeau said he had no knowledge of money being transferred – he never denied knowledge of Chinese interference.

Now, he just avoids the topic.

“My fear is that this is going to be even more confused in French,” Blanchet put forward.

Blanchet tried to get Trudeau to reveal which 11 candidates may have received funding from China, but Trudeau wouldn’t budge. Trudeau stuck to his line that he knows nothing of money being sent to candidates via China, while refusing to answer questions on China’s general interference in our elections.

“The prime minister says what he doesn’t know. He should tell us what he does know,” Blanchet said.

That is a nice thought, but it’s unlikely to happen no matter how much or how often the opposition presses. We know that China interfered in the 2019 and 2021 elections in our country, but the Trudeau government seems fine to ignore that fact and so far, the public is not outraged.

It’s not clear if the lack of public outrage is due to apathy on the part of the public or apathy on the part of the media. You can be sure that if China, Russia, Iran or any authoritarian regime were to interfere in Canadian elections where a Conservative Party won that there would be no end of stories and outrage.

Trudeau, though, is a Liberal and someone much of the media is willing to give a pass to regardless of what happens, including Chinese election interference.

Foreign interference in our elections should rise above political and partisan concerns, but sadly for most, they don’t. It’s another example of why Canada remains far from being considered a serious country.

Every Canadian should be outraged at China’s interference in our elections, and no one should accept Trudeau’s evasion on the issue.