NATIONAL POST – ‘Leaders not taking foreign interference seriously enough’

Posted on June 21, 2024 in Feedback, National Pulse, Page One // 0 Comments

By ANGUS REID INSTITUTE

June 21, 2024 – The House of Commons rose for summer break this week. It is a ritual that sends bills yet to be passed into legislative purgatory, while sending MPs back into ridings to work the proverbial ‘barbeque circuit’.

One subject MPs of all stripes will surely be talking about: the capital gains inclusion increase, most likely to be boosted by Liberal caucus members and pilloried by those in the Conservative tent. What they’re less likely to raise spontaneously: lingering questions and murkiness over the latest revelations in the foreign interference scandal.

Capital Gains Tax: One-in-five say increasing inclusion rate will cost them more over next five years

A bombshell report was released earlier this month by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), a group made up of cross-parliament MPs and senators. The committee’s report detailed the ways foreign interference has been infiltrating Canadian politics.

The ensuing political firestorm has put pressure on the Trudeau government to name the individuals who, as the report says were ‘semi-witting or witting’ participants in the efforts of foreign states to interfere in Canadian politics. It has also put Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre’s decision not to seek the security clearance required to read the report under the microscope.

New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds Canadians largely aligned on the seriousness of the issue and the feeling that their political leaders need to do more to reflect it. Public opinion polling data shows a strong majority of Canadians say all federal leaders should be informed about the report by receiving the necessary security clearance. Notably, even three-in-five who would support the CPC in a future federal election say this.

Poilievre, has, however, gone on record as stating that the government should release the names of those the report lists as having been a “witting or semi-witting” participant in foreign interference. For their part, Canadians agree. Seven-in-10 say those names should be made public.
Perhaps because of the heavy politicization of the issue, there is broad sentiment parliamentarians must take it more seriously. Only CSIS, and to a lesser extent the RCMP, appear to have the confidence of Canadians in handling the issue.