Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a press conference at the G7 Summit in Savelletri Di Fasano, Italy on Saturday, June 15, 2024.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined to confirm or deny that any members of his Liberal caucus were accused in a security watchdog report of being participants in foreign interference efforts.
Speaking to the Canadian media on the sidelines of the G7 summit in southern Italy, which ends on Saturday, Mr. Trudeau had far less to say about the report on foreign interference than NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh or Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.
“We made clear some of the concerns we have with the way the NSICOP drew its conclusions,” Mr. Trudeau said. “The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians exists so that parliamentarians from all the parties can have all access to the work that our national security agencies are doing. That’s an important step that wouldn’t have happened if the Conservative party remained in power. We were able to create that over the objections of [Conservative Leader] Pierre Poilievre and the Conservative party.”
He added that concerns raised in the report have been referred to a national inquiry into foreign interference.
The NSICOP said in a report released last week that some parliamentarians were “semi-witting or witting” participants in the efforts by foreign states to meddle in Canadian politics.
After reading the unredacted report, Mr. Singh has said that some parliamentarians had provided help to foreign governments, but Ms. May has suggested the opposite, saying she was “vastly relieved” that there were no traitors to Canada.
Speaking to a radio show in Kitchener, Ont., Friday, Ms. May said the only difference between her and Mr. Singh’s reaction was one of tone. “The words traitor and treason are, I would say, too hot – not justified in law at this point.” After reading the report, she told the Mike Farwell show that “I was relieved because there weren’t a bunch of names of parliamentarians who had been disloyal to Canada.”
Mr. Poilievre’s office said Canadian Security Intelligence Service officials can brief him if federal officials feel there are foreign-interference concerns about his party or caucus that should be brought to his attention. The NSICOP report mentions alleged interference by China and India in Conservative leadership races, though the public version of the report offers no such details.
Poilievre would accept CSIS briefing if spy agency has any concerns about his caucus or party
Separately, Mr. Trudeau did not say whether he would invite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to next year’s G7, which will be held in Kananaskis, Alta. India is not a G7 member but the event’s hosts typically invite leaders from other countries – Mr. Modi came to the Italian G7.
Mr. Trudeau seemed to make a breakthrough with Mr. Modi in Italy. The two men talked on the sidelines of the G7, marking the first time since they met since Mr. Trudeau publicly accused the Modi government of being behind the assassination of a Canadian Sikh activist (the government denied the accusations). “There are important issues that we need to work together on and we will do that,” Mr. Trudeau said on Saturday.
The G7′s final communique, published Friday night, did not mention abortion rights, which was clearly a disappointment for some G7 countries, including Canada. “There are clear limits in the communique to defending essential reproductive right,” Mr. Trudeau said. “We will continue to defend reproductive rights as well as women’s rights.”