Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s office confirmed that he would release the identities of all MPs “deemed to have knowingly participated in foreign interference,” if elected.
During his testimony before a federal inquiry on foreign interference, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed he is aware “of a number of parliamentarians, former parliamentarians and/or candidates” within the Conservative party who are “engaged, or at high risk” of foreign interference.
Trudeau said that as prime minister, he was briefed on this classified information.
However, Poilievre accused the prime minister of “lying” and demanded he release the names of said MPs in a committee report in which he called the intelligence “troubling.”
Poilievre has refused to make himself privy to the intelligence briefing because it would prevent him from releasing the information to the public.
The Conservative leader has received considerable criticism from his political rivals, including other party leaders who have received a security clearance to be briefed on the information.
However, the Conservative leader said his chief of staff receives them on his behalf.
A spokesperson for Poilievre’s office recently told the National Post that he intends to release the names should his party win the next federal election.
“For those who are deemed to have knowingly participated in foreign interference, yes,” said spokesperson Sebastian Skamski, adding that Poilievre “will of course” inform himself of the classified information once in the Prime Minister’s Office.
“(Poilievre) will be upfront and honest with Canadians and be transparent about the threats posed by foreign interference, unlike Justin Trudeau who continues to hide and obstruct the truth for political gain,” said Skamski.
“Justin Trudeau should release the names if he has nothing to hide.”
However, Gabriel Brunet, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc called Poilievre’s comments “reckless proclamations,” saying that “Poilievre should start by getting his security clearance so that he can get properly briefed on this matter.”
Brunet argued that the Trudeau government created a committee to review the findings of Canada’s intelligence agencies in a way that won’t compromise national security.
NDP public safety critic Alistar MacGregor said his party supports releasing names “so long as it’s in a way that protects national security,” saying that making the information public “shouldn’t be about political interests.”
“Pierre Poilievre is refusing to do the responsible thing, the necessary thing, even though a number of compromised Conservative MPs and candidates are named in classified documents only available to him if he obtains that clearance,” said MacGregor in a statement released on Tuesday.
However, Poilievre argues that if there were Conservative MPs named in the classified briefings, Trudeau would have already made them public.
“We know he’d release the names if he had them. This is a prime minister who releases information on foreign interference whenever it suits his political purposes,” said Poilievre in Ottawa on Monday.
“We said, ‘we’ve got nothing to hide so name the names Mr. Trudeau,’ … so that all Canadians can hold them to account,” he added.