Hill Times NEWS: Feds have ‘duty to protect and warn’ parliamentarians from threats ‘in any form,’ says NDP MP Jenny Kwan
Hill Times NEWS: Feds have ‘duty to protect and warn’ parliamentarians from threats ‘in any form,’ says NDP MP Jenny Kwan
NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.) testified at the inquiry on Sept. 18, alongside Conservative MP Michael Chong (Wellington–Halton Hills, Ont.) and former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole. She told The Hill Times that regardless of party or position in Parliament, “the truth of the matter is we’re all exposed.”
Kwan said that all of her fellow witnesses that day also exemplified that threats to parliamentarians, their staff, and their families “could come in any way, in any form, and on any platform.”
Kwan said those threats could take the form of the malware attacks targeting members of IPAC, or more personal threats, including those aimed at Kwan or Chong and their families.
Last year, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) informed Chong that he and his family were targets of the Chinese government over his 2021 motion condemning Beijing’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims as a genocide. That information was only shared with Chong in May 2023 after the federal government confirmed reporting by The Globe and Mail about a leaked CSIS report detailing Beijing’s efforts to intimidate him and his family.
The following August, Global Affairs said it believed Chong had also been the target of a foreign disinformation campaign, which it suspected was directed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The heavily redacted report published on June 3 concluded that some elected officials—including a former MP connected with a foreign intelligence officer—are “semi-witting or witting” actors in foreign interference.
On June 10, the Bloc Québécois introduced a successful motion requesting that the terms of reference for the Hogue inquiry be further expanded to include the allegations raised in the NSICOP report.
The commission said it would work to “shed light on the facts” discussed in the NSICOP report. Still, Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue has since said the inquiry would be unable to disclose the identities of the implicated parliamentarians.
However, Kwan said she firmly believes that more follow-up and accountability are needed to disperse the “cloud of suspicion” the report has cast over every parliamentarian.
“This undermines not just me as an MP, but the entire institution, and I think those who want to sow chaos and disrupt our democratic institutions want that,” Kwan said. “This cannot be allowed to continue.”
While her privilege question called for PROC to study the report, Kwan also said conducting that study in tandem with a parallel Senate committee would be beneficial.
“I believe that is a path forward to address this cloud of suspicion,” Kwan said. “I think in that process we can balance transparency, accountability, and due process.” On Sept. 23, House Speaker Greg Fergus (Hull-Aylmer, Que.) ruled that he did not find that Kwan’s intervention met the threshold of a violation of privilege.
On Sept. 23, House Speaker Greg Fergus (Hull-Aylmer, Que.) ruled that he did not find that Kwan’s intervention met the threshold of a violation of privilege.
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MPs question Lena Diab's performance at question period and in committee
Criticism is coming not only from opposition parties, but also from Diab's own Liberal colleagues.
Away from the cameras, 10 Liberal MPs spoke to Radio-Canada about her performance. They were granted confidentiality in order to express themselves freely.
Of those, only one defended Diab's job performance. Although several of them emphasized that she is a "good person" in charge of a "difficult" portfolio, nine MPs said they believe that the minister is overwhelmed and are openly questioning her place at the cabinet table.
"It doesn't make sense. In the House of Commons, many MPs hold their breath when she answers questions from the opposition," said one Liberal elected official.
"We're afraid she'll put her foot in her mouth."
New Democrat Jenny Kwan, her party's immigration critic, said that both Carney and Diab are responsible for how the immigration file is handled.
"That responsibility is to be responsive to stakeholders, to take these issues seriously, to examine the policies, to evaluate them, to hear from opposition and the public and look for ways to improve them," she said.
"That is their job."
Click image or link to read the news story - https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/lena-diab-immigration-minister-criticism-9.7103914
Conservatives are capitalizing on the recent drop in public support for immigration, but risk being seen as too MAGA adjacent, say observers. Meanwhile, the immigration minister's own colleagues question her handling of the file.
The Conservatives’ defeated motion targeting health-care coverage for asylum claimants shows weaknesses on both the part of the Liberal immigration minister and the official opposition leader, with MAGA-like rhetoric posing political risk for the latter, observers say.
Jordan Leichnitz, a former NDP strategist who now works for the German non-profit Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, told The Hill Times in a Feb. 26 interview that the Conservatives’ pressure on the immigration file is a reflection of their own political fragility.
“To me, it’s a manifestation of their political weakness right now. They turn to these arguments because they’re very mobilizing for segments of their base at moments where they feel politically more vulnerable,” she said.