Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has come under attack back home, with his main opponent, Conservative Party‘s Pierre Poilievre, accusing him of lying and winning two elections with China’s help while making misleading claims about India’s interference in Ottawa’s internal affairs.
Responding to Trudeau’s allegation about links of Conservative MPs to foreign powers, Poilievre said the PM had not responded to his message to reveal the names of MPs who collaborated with “foreign interference“.
“Justin Trudeau is doing what he always does: he is lying. He is lying to distract from a Liberal caucus revolt against his leadership and revelations he knowingly allowed Beijing to interfere and help him win two elections,” said the Conservative politician who enjoys nearly a double-digit lead in ratings over Trudeau in the build-up to polls next year.
Poilievre also revealed that Trudeau, who through his senior aides conveyed to him serious allegations of India’s interference in Canada‘s internal affairs, had not backed up the charge though the law allows him the leeway to share the specific details. “I was briefed on Oct 14 by Nathalie Drouin, national security and intelligence advisor to the PM; David Morrison, deputy minister of foreign affairs at Global Affairs Canada; and Daniel Rogers, director of CSIS; about the matter of foreign interference from India,” Poilievre said, adding that Trudeau’s team did not share details with him by taking the stand that they could not put any MP in a “tough position” without giving them due process. Poilievre said the stand of Trudeau’s aides was just an excuse as “CSIS Act allows the govt to offer any information to any Canadian about specific risks of foreign interference without forcing them into sworn secrecy or controlling what they say”.
He also said it was the first time Trudeau’s team had made the claim about India’s interference and its links to Conservative MPs. The timing, Oct 14, of the Trudeau team’s visit to Poilievre is also significant: it came on the eve of the deposition of the PM and members of PMO before the Foreign Interference Commission, the coincidence set to strengthen India’s suspicion that the dispensation in Ottawa fired the second volley of allegations to distract attention from the hearings into charge that Trudeau allowed the Chinese a free run of his country.
“If Trudeau has evidence to the contrary, he should share it with the public. Now that he has blurted it out in general terms at a commission of inquiry, he should release facts. But he won’t, because he is making it up,” Poilievre said.