The West Block – Episode 39, Season 13

THE WEST BLOCK
Episode 39, Season 13
Sunday, June 9, 2024

Host: Mercedes Stephenson

Guests:
Garry Clement, Former RCMP Superintendent
Thomas Juneau, University of Ottawa
Oleksandra Matviichuk, Chair, Centre for Civil Liberties in Ukraine

Location:
Ottawa Studio

Mercedes Stephenson: It’s a massive security threat and it’s coming from inside the House of Commons.

I’m Mercedes Stephenson. The West Block starts now.

Frank Caputo, Conservative MP: “This places a cloud of suspicion over every single member of the House.”

Mercedes Stephenson: As a report reveals some unnamed parliamentarians knowingly helped foreign states meddle in Canadian politics, those members could still be sitting in the House and Senate, and they could still be working with hostile foreign governments. We dig into the conflicting reports on how it could be dealt with.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: “We’ve done just incredible work.”

Mercedes Stephenson: And we sit down with a compelling Nobel Peace Prize laureate who is fighting for the rights of kidnapped Ukrainian children.

It’s the latest report on foreign interference and it is by far the most explosive.

The 92-page document based on secret evidence and testimony raised serious concerns that some sitting parliamentarians have been knowingly colluding with foreign powers, including hostile ones. China and India are named as the two worst offenders. Among the allegations that some parliamentarians deliberately helped to influence Canadian politics in campaigns in the interests of foreign powers that some shared sensitive information that could help those foreign states and in some cases, shared material that would help foreign countries to pressure MPs to change their position in key issues. They’re also accused