Who is Telling the Truth? The Liberal Coverup of the Vance Allegations Continues
Plus Bill C-10, the Upcoming Census, Visiting Local Schools, the Failed Canada Infrastructure Bank, and the Trade Minister Dodging Questions on Xinjiang
Who is Telling the Truth? The Liberal Coverup of the Vance Allegations Continues
This week, the Conservatives have been grilling the Liberals on their knowledge of the sexual misconduct allegations against then Chief of Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance. Below is an accounting of what we know so far and how the Prime Minister and his government continue to contradict each other.
In early February, news broke on sexual misconduct allegations against then Chief of the Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance, by two female subordinates. Soon after the initial news broke, reports started circulating speculating about what the Minister of National Defence, Harjit Sajjan knew about the allegations.
With the support of other opposition parties, Conservatives passed a motion calling on the Minister to appear before the committee on the 19th of February. At the committee, the Minister refused to provide a straight answer as to when he was told about the sexual misconduct allegations against General Vance.
On March 3, 2021, the former military ombudsman, Gary Walbourne, appeared before the committee. In his testimony, the former ombudsman said that in 2018 he met with the Minister of National Defence. The ombudsman stated that as he reached into his pocket to pull out evidence relating to the sexual misconduct allegations the Minister pushed himself away from the table and refused to look at the evidence.
The Minister of National Defence said that he did his duty and reported the allegations to the Privy Council Office in 2018, but expert witnesses at committee explained that the Minister has the duty to investigate sexual misconduct allegations and report the results of the investigations to the Privy Council Office.
On March 5, 2021, reports leaked that senior staff in the PMO were aware of the allegations against General Vance in 2019. On March 12, 2021, the Defence Minister told the Defence Committee that the Prime Minister was informed that the Minister raised concerns about General Vance to the Privy Council Office. On March 30, 2021, the Prime Minister categorically denied that he knew anything about any allegations against General Vance.
Who is telling the truth? The Conservatives passed a motion calling on Elder Marques, a former senior advisor in Trudeau’s office to appear before the Defence Committee to uncover the truth about what the Prime Minister knew about these allegations. In late March, Marques agreed to appear before the committee.
On April 13, 2021, the Liberals with the support of the Bloc, passed a motion to shutdown the committee investigation on the allegations against General Vance. Conservatives refused to let the Liberals coverup the truth.
On April 16, 2021, the Liberals launched a late filibuster to prevent Elder Marques from testifying. Although Marques had agreed to testify before the committee, he and the committee could not agree over a six-week time period on a time for him to appear. Conservatives put forward a motion to issue a summons for Marques to testify before the committee. This meeting was thrown into chaos when Liberal MP and committee chair, Karen McCrimmon, initially outright refused to consider the motion. Opposition parties rejected the Liberal attempts to shut down the meeting and called Marques to committee.
On April 23, 2021, Elder Marques finally appeared before the Defence Committee. He told the committee that it was the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Katie Telford or one of her assistants, who contacted him in early March 2018 to speak with Sajjan’s senior staff about an issue relating to the sexual misconduct allegations.
This past Tuesday, in response to Marques’ testimony, Prime Minister Trudeau, said no one in his office knew that the 2018 allegation against General Vance, “was a Me Too complaint.” These comments openly contradict emails obtained through an access to information request from bureaucrats who were directed by the Prime Minister’s office to open a probe into allegations against General Vance. In the emails, the term “sexual harassment” was used frequently to describe the allegations.
So, who is telling the truth? Did the Prime Minister really not know anything about the allegations against General Vance? How is it possible that everyone around the Prime Minister including senior staff, the Privy Council Office, the Minister, and the Minister’s staff know about the allegations, but the Prime Minister didn’t know anything about the allegations?
After months of reports of sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces, the Liberals announced on April 29, 2021, that it will be launching an external review of sexual misconduct allegations in the Canadian Armed Forces. This announcement is an attempt by the Liberal government to deflect and continue the coverup on who was aware of the allegations and who refused to act. Conservatives are pushing to have the prime minister’s chief of staff appear before the Defence Committee and explain her role in this scandal.
More than two months ago, Canada’s Conservatives laid out a plan to tackle sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces. This included: a service-wide independent investigation into sexual misconduct in the military, suspending all general and flag officer promotions and salary increases while the investigation into the misconduct is taking place, and introduce policies to ensure future complaints are made to an external independent body outside the chain of command.
On April 30, the Liberals blocked the Conservative attempt to call Katie Telford to the Defence Committee to testify. The Liberals are continuing their coverup, but Conservatives will continue to work to ensure the members of the Canadian Armed Forces and all Canadians get answers.
We ask a lot of the men and women that serve the country in the Canadian Armed Forces, and Conservatives will continue to advocate for victims of sexual misconduct. We will demand that the Liberals end their coverup, and work to ensure real change is undertaken in the military to protect victims.
Bill C-10, An Assault on Freedom of Expression
Bill C-10 was introduced by the Minister of Canadian Heritage in November with the goal of clarifying the CRTC’s ability to regulate streaming services, like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime. The bill is not specific about details about how these services will be regulated, but its purpose is to promote Canadian content.
In the original version of the bill, user-generated content like YouTube videos, Facebook content, Instagram stories, and Tik Tok clips were exempted. This exemption was removed last week in committee by Liberal MPs. I had already planned on opposing Bill C-10 for other questionable changes but the removal of the exemptions protecting user content from CRTC censorship goes too far. I will vote against Bill C-10.
A former CRTC commissioner has referred to this amended law as a frontal assault on free speech and the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa labelled the bill, “an unconscionable attack on the free expression rights of Canadians.”
One of the goals of Bill C-10 was to promote “social cohesion”. This is poorly defined and would give the CRTC expanded powers to control what you see online. I often see comments I disagree with online, but disagreeing opinions should not be suppressed, they should be debated.
I addressed some concerns with the original version of Bill C-10 in February. If you disagree with these changes to Bill C-10, send the Heritage Minister an email at steven.guilbeault@parl.gc.ca.
Visiting Students at Christ the King Catholic School
I spent this past Thursday with 5 classes of Grade 9s for a 5-hour marathon with their teacher Rada Howe talking about Parliament, post-pandemic economic renewal, and mental health for teenagers. I am always eager to take questions from our youth and answer them as best I can.
Demographic Census Coming and Redistribution of Seats in 2023
On May 4, 2021, Statistics Canada will be conducting the national census. The census is completed every 5 years and allows the government to count the population and distribute funding for programs, seats in Parliament, etc.
In 2023, the seats in Parliament will be reapportioned and this census will be used to officially determine the total population of Alberta for the redistribution of seats. This redistribution of seats is mandated every 10 years by the Constitution. This is our chance to get a greater proportion of seats in Parliament and filling out the survey is a critical part of ensuring that fairness.
Trade Minister Dodges Questions on Imports from Xinjiang Province
In a recent appearance before the House International Trade Committee, Minister Mary Ng, the Minister of International Trade, declined to answer questions from Conservative MP Tracy Gray regarding the importation of goods from the Xinjiang province in the People’s Republic of China, where the Beijing government has detained over one million Uyghur in internment camps and used them for forced labour.
This followed reports in the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail that discovered imports from the region have continued to flow into Canada; retailers have received nearly 400 shipments of goods and the CBSA has not applied tariff prohibitions on goods produced by coerced labour in Xinjiang. Many organizations have long advocated for the Uyghur cause, calling for the ban of imports from Xinjiang. End Uyghur Forced Labour, a coalition group, notes that 84% of cotton production from China comes from the Uyghur region, accounting for 20% of the world’s supply. When questioned, Minister Ng responded by saying “we're always going to advocate and stand up for human rights around the world”. Yet, the Liberal cabinet refused to show up to a vote calling on Parliament to recognize the genocide being perpetrated by the Chinese government. Canadian dollars should not fund genocide abroad, and Conservatives will work to ensure Canadian values are defended at home and abroad.
Canada Infrastructure Bank: The Latest Liberal White Elephant
There seems to be no end to the boondoggles from the Ottawa Liberals. The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) was formed out of thin air by former Finance minister Bill Morneau in 2017 to direct $35 billion into revenue-generating infrastructure projects through public-private partnerships. On April 27, Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux released a report concluding that the CIB was significantly underperforming the government’s yearly targets. The bank has allocated only $5.1 billion towards various projects and is on track to disburse only $16 billion in infrastructure investments by 2027-28, a $19 billion shortfall. To this day, the Prime Minister has been praising the bank's usefulness in delivering on priorities such as green energy and his government saw fit to approve a $600,000 bonus for the former CEO of the bank, despite the bank's failure to build anything. Once again, the Liberal government has demonstrated its lack of fiscal discipline just days after presenting the largest spending document in Canadian history. It is time to put forward an actual plan to build critical infrastructure in Canada.