Stéphane Perrault and Caroline Simard made statements and answered questions.

At 11:05 a.m., the sitting was suspended.

At 11:10 a.m., the sitting resumed.

David Vigneault made a statement and, with Michael Duheme, answered questions.

At 12:10 p.m., the sitting was suspended.

At 12:22 p.m., the sitting resumed.

David Morrison made a statement and, with Rob Stewart, answered questions.

At 1:30 p.m., the sitting was suspended.

At 1:40 p.m., the sitting resumed.

A point of order was raised as to the speaking order.

RULING BY THE CHAIR

The Chair ruled that Peter Julian had the floor.

Whereupon, Michael Cooper appealed the decision of the Chair.

The question: "Shall the decision of the Chair be sustained?" was put and the decision was sustained on the following recorded division:

YEAS: Greg Fergus, Mark Gerretsen, Peter Julian, Sherry Romanado, Ruby Sahota, Ryan Turnbull — 6;

NAYS: Luc Berthold, John Brassard, Michael Cooper, Christine Normandin, Rachael Thomas — 5.

Peter Julian moved, — That the committee report to the House that it calls on the Government of Canada to launch a national public inquiry into allegations of foreign interference in Canada’s democratic system, including but not limited to allegations of interference in general elections by foreign governments;

That this inquiry be granted all necessary powers to call witnesses from the government and from political parties, including but not limited to Ministers, former Ministers, chiefs of staff to the Prime Minister and to the Leader of the Official Opposition during the 2019 and 2021 federal election campaigns and national campaign directors for the 2019 and 2021 federal election campaigns of the Liberal Party of Canada and the Conservative Party of Canada; and

That this inquiry have the power to order and review all documents it deems necessary for this work, including documents which are related to national security.

Debate arose thereon.

Debate resumed on the amendment of Michael Cooper.

At 4:10 p.m., the sitting was suspended.

At 4:27 p.m., the sitting resumed.

The debate resumed.

By unanimous consent, the committee reconsidered the subamendment of Christine Normandin which read as follows:

That the amendment be amended by removing paragraph (a).

Debate resumed on the amendment of Michael Cooper.

The question was put on the motion, as amended, and it was agreed to on the following recorded division:

YEAS: Luc Berthold, Larry Brock, Michael Cooper, Tracy Gray, Peter Julian, Christine Normandin — 6;

NAYS: Greg Fergus, Peter Fragiskatos, Iqra Khalid, Sherry Romanado, Ryan Turnbull — 5.

The motion, as amended, read as follows:

The motion, as adopted, read: That the committee report to the House that it calls on the Government of Canada to launch a national public inquiry into allegations of foreign interference in Canada’s democratic system, including but not limited to allegations of interference in general elections by foreign governments;

That this inquiry be granted all the necessary powers to call witnesses from the government and from political parties;

That this inquiry investigates abuse of diaspora groups by hostile foreign governments;

That this inquiry have the power to order and review all documents it deems necessary for this work, including documents which are related to national security;

That the individual heading this inquiry be selected by unanimous agreement by the House Leaders of the officially recognized parties in the House of Commons; and

That this inquiry does not impede or stop the Committee’s study on foreign election interference, including the production of documents and the calling of witnesses.

At 4:53 p.m., the sitting was suspended.

At 5:02 p.m., the sitting resumed.

Michael Cooper moved, — That the committee resume consideration of the motion proposed on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, which read as follows:

That, given further media reports from Global News, revealing additional shocking revelations regarding Beijing’s strategy to interfere and influence Canada’s democratic institutions, the committee, in relation to its study of foreign interference in elections,

(a) hold a third meeting during each House sitting week to accommodate this study, in addition to its meetings concerning its orders of reference related to the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act;

(b) hold at least three meetings, each two hours in length, dedicated to this study, on each House adjournment week;

(c) invite Katie Telford, Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister, to appear alone for two hours by herself, within two weeks of the adoption of this motion, provided that she be sworn or affirmed;

(d) invite Jeremy Broadhurst, Liberal Party of Canada Campaign Director for the 2019 general election;

(e) invite Morris Rosenberg, author of the independent assessment of the Critical Election Incident Public Protocol (CEIPP) for the 2021 general election, as mandated by the Cabinet Directive on the CEIPP; and

(f) order the production of all memoranda, briefing notes, e-mails, records of conversations, and any other relevant documents, including any drafts, which are in the possession of any government department or agency, including the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force, CEIPP, any Minister’s Office, and the Prime Minister’s Office, containing information concerning efforts by, or on behalf of, foreign governments or other foreign state actors to interfere in the 2019 and 2021 general elections, including the documents which were quoted in the various Globe and Mail and Global News reports on this subject-matter and, for greater certainty, those regarding Canadian Security Intelligence Service warnings to “senior Liberal Party staff” in September 2019 regarding Beijing’s foreign interference in the Liberal nomination for the riding of Don Valley North, provided that

(i) these documents be deposited without redaction with the Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel, in both official languages and within three weeks of the adoption of this order,

(ii) a copy of the documents shall also be deposited with the Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel, in both official languages, within three weeks of the adoption of this Order, with any proposed redaction of information which, in the government’s opinion, could reasonably be expected to compromise the identities of employees or sources or intelligence-collecting methods of Canadian or allied intelligence agencies,

(iii) the Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel shall promptly notify the committee whether the Office is satisfied that the documents were produced as ordered, and, if not, the Chair shall be instructed to present forthwith, on behalf of the Committee, a report to the House outlining the material facts of the situation,

(iv) the Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel shall assess the redactions proposed by the government, pursuant to subparagraph (ii), to determine whether the Office agrees that the proposed redactions conform with the criteria set out in subparagraph (ii) and

(A) if it agrees, it shall provide the documents, as redacted by the government pursuant to subparagraph (ii), to the Clerk of the Committee, or

(B) if it disagrees with some or all of the proposed redactions, it shall provide a copy of the documents, redacted in the manner the Office determines would conform with the criteria set out in paragraph (ii), together with a report indicating the number, extent and nature of the government's proposed redactions which were disagreed with, to the clerk of the committee, and

(v) the clerk of the committee shall cause the documents, provided by the Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel pursuant to subparagraph (iv), to be distributed to the members of the committee and to be published on the committee’s website forthwith upon receipt.

At 5:06 p.m., the sitting was suspended.

At 5:10 p.m., the sitting resumed.

After debate, the question was put on the motion and it was negatived on the following recorded division:

YEAS: Luc Berthold, Larry Brock, Michael Cooper, Tracy Gray, Christine Normandin — 5;

NAYS: Greg Fergus, Peter Fragiskatos, Peter Julian, Sherry Romanado, Ruby Sahota, Ryan Turnbull — 6.