A plot by the Chinese government to intimidate Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family in Hong Kong continues to dominate Parliament Hill, but experts are warning that the Chinese…
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national security advisor admitted on Thursday that something went wrong with how the government handles reports from intelligence agencies but denied opposition claims that it was a wide-ranging systemic failure of Canada’s government machinery.
The Hub’s editor-at-large Sean Speer spoke with Ian Brodie, the former chief of staff to Stephen Harper, for some insight into how governments handle classified and top secret information.
Diplomacy works best when the hand that reaches out is an iron fist in a velvet glove. It shows our enemies and even the enemies of our enemies that while we favour peace, we are prepared to fight with all our resolve for what we believe in.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday that he expects further retaliation after expelling the diplomat responsible for an intimidation campaign against an MP’s family. But Trudeau said it’s more important to send a message that this kind of behaviour is unacceptable in Canada and that he won’t be “intimidated.”
This week’s Hub Dialogue roundtable welcomes Ian Brodie, a former chief of staff to prime minister Stephen Harper, to discuss the allegations that China waged an intimidation campaign against the extended family of Conservative MP Michael Chong.
Canada doesn’t have a legal definition for foreign interference, pushing the authorities to find other crimes committed by malign foreign actors if they want to prosecute them, a national security expert said.
It’s too easy for hostile foreign powers to interfere in Canadian democracy with few consequences, national security experts said in the wake of revelations that China had targeted for intimidation the extended family of a member of Parliament.
Canada’s military credibility among our allies is declining. We must remedy our internal issues and arrest the country’s further slide towards irrelevance. But recent rumblings of increased defence spending are promising.
This episode of Hub Dialogues features Conservative MP Michael Chong reacting to a breaking media report that Canadian intelligence officials had evidence that MP Chong’s family in Hong Kong was targeted by a Chinese official in the Toronto consulate, and yet the Canadian government failed to inform him or expel the diplomat.
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