May relieved by NSICOP report, Singh questions his support for feds | Power Play with Vassy Kapelos

again statement from the leader of the NDP you heard it there jug meet saying read the now Infamous enop National Security report on foreign interference in full the unredacted version and came to the conclusion there are traders in Parliament his assessment comes in stark contrast to Green Party co-leader Elizabeth Mays just a few days ago when she said she was relieved after reading the report there is no list of MPS who have shown disloyalty to Canada so I am very glad I read the full report I am very comfortable sitting with my colleagues we will disagree on policy and on many issues but I am vastly relieved and here’s how jug meet Singh framed what he read the same document in the same way up against how Miss Maya it I am not relieved after reading this report I am more concerned today that I am than I was yesterday was there anything in the unredacted report that was connected to you personally uh I was a Target they are indeed traders to the country so we’ve got two leaders with seemingly opposite assessments of the same top secret report which Canadians can only see a redacted version of here to break down everything we know so far and where this thing goes from here ctv’s senior political correspondent Micha L coutur and the glob and males senior political reporter ma Walsh hi guys okay Mar I’ll start with with you I I don’t know what we expected when jug meet Singh was going to come out today but he very directly did not say the same thing like he was like I’m not relieved and Elizabeth May was relieved what is the Nexus do you think of the the the different take I think what it boiled down to from my understanding of Elizabeth May’s press conference which was long convoluted and sometimes contradictory to what jug meet Singh said is that she essentially said people might have benefited from foreign interference but they didn’t do so knowing although they probably should have known was sort of her main takeaway she said there might be compromised MPS in the House of Commons um but she was relieved because she didn’t think there was anybody who was disloyal to Canada clearly from everything you played off the top of your show jug meing does not have that perspective and I think very interestingly my takeaways from him were he thought that the Prime Minister had almost accepted a certain level of foreign interference I thought that was a very damning statement from the NDP leader um and and he said essentially that the inaction from the prime minister is a problem and the inaction from the conservative leader is a problem yeah and we’ll get into that in a second because there’s lines of accountability on both sides there uh uh Mike but what you were there I think the Press conf what’s stood know to you about what he was saying about what he read because it’s kind of tricky like in some instances he was referring to like what he would what he couldn’t say because it was only what I can base the my comments on what’s public but then he was also like making Reflections which clearly were based on things he was able to read that we were not yeah and shocking that it was the same report that Elizabeth May apparently read and I actually asked him did you read the same report because these are two starkly different conclusions here and how do you come to these types of conclusions the fact that he was a target of foreign interference um I think was one of those Revelations the other thing I thought that was interesting is a number of reporters start to hammer him and say okay so you had said if any NDP MPS were implicated in any of this you would kick them out of caucus are you kicking anybody out of caucus he said No and when that followup was well should other leaders do so he basically said that other leaders should either be reading this report or reflecting on who is in their concus right now so clearly a bit of an indication thereof there may still be people in Parliament people who are parliamentarians that are sitting that may be compromised at this point and really calling out kpv constantly we know that PV said that he will not be reading this because he doesn’t want to be muzzled in the House of Commons uh but saying that look he should be reading this because it does involve his party and again saying that as MAA had said both paev and Trudeau have sort of willfully being uh ignorant about this and are turning a blind eye to it so let’s start with the conservatives is there any movement from the conservatives Ma on poly of taking this briefing I don’t think so they appear to double down in their first statement which In fairness I got just before the top of the show so I haven’t read it in full but they said that essentially his comments um NDP leaders comments bolster Pier pov’s position because they said he only said what was in the conclusions of the public version of the report now I don’t think that’s the case as you just outlined and I think the point the broader point the more important point that cus and other intelligence experts are giving to the party leaders is that if you get brief you can act and that’s that inaction that the NDP leader has called out he also has a much smaller caucus much less on the line than the other two political party leaders but obviously there’s going to be even more pressure and even more questions for the Prime Minister who’s overseas right now but surrounded by a gaggle of Canadian journalists and the conservative leader if he does a press conference on Parliament Hill someday somehow um to explain why they are not going further than what they have I think it’s important to remember that this report says there was interference both by China and India in the conservative leadership race yeah and and speaks more broadly about other types of interference that are happening too which is I think why I keep hearing from Canadians who are perplexed about what seems like a lack of action on both their parts obviously the ownest on the government to do a lot more but at the party level it’s equally on all the party leaders to do something about it and nobody seems willing and either the conservatives or the government to do that and David McGinty the head of enop um everybody’s favorite acronym these days basically said this is a Clarion call and he called on all Party leaders yesterday to come together and to do something here for the sake of our democrac democracy saying that our democracy is on the line our rule of law is on the line and that they need to act now interestingly I did call the block kbec W just before coming on and they were telling me that yes well e Blan wants to get that briefing and wants to get that security clearance they’re still really at the beginning stages where they have questions for the officials they’re waiting for them to get back to them but they are starting that process doesn’t sound like it’s going to happen that soon uh but certainly starting that process for Blanchet to really get a look at that report and then for him to possibly come with his assessment as well you mentioned ma that that J sing essentially made the statement that the Prime Minister appears to be okay with a level of foreign interference that resulted in a number of reporters asking repeated questions at jug meing about why he continues to essentially prop the government up have a listen to that exchange why are you continuing to prop up the government who you say isn’t taking democracy seriously why do you continue to prop them up so the question is what are we going to do about it no the question why you continue to prop up the government when you say our democracy is at stake and this government is not taking our democracy seriously why continue to back them up we’re not at all doing that what we’re saying is we’re going to demand answers we’re going to continue to push for Solutions it is hard to see how MA Mr Sing continues to navigate that question when he is essentially saying like the Prime Minister has a role at putting democracy at risk yeah and kudos to I think that was Mickey durj with the Canadian press putting those questions to him and and not taking the suggestion that she should be asking a different question um I think that it is a it is a tricky position for the NDP to be in and they will continue to be in that position until they bail on the supply and confidence deal so far they’re making the political calculation that that is not what they’re going to do I mean Mr sing’s argument is essentially we can’t have an election right now in this current climate um and he’s saying interestingly he has kind of the same conclusion as Liz May that the leaders need to get together chart a path forward that’s the sort of the only part where they really agree on that this does need to become a political thing that they take head on and that’s also what sort of academics in the intelligence world are saying that you can’t just keep pushing this to committees and inquiries you ultimately have to make a political decision about what you will do it looks like the only two people who want to get together in that room though Mike are Elizabeth May and Je me sing at this point yeah and you know a party of those two people I don’t think really gets us too far in this question right now uh despite you know the power that they have and having read this I think one of the things that is interesting in all this is that yes you know Justice o now has the possibility or there is the suggestion of having her take this on as well well she still has 2011 days left until her final report is due she’s complained that that’s a tight timeline adding more to her plate might not be the best option here but certainly I think the question is valid why do you continue to prop up this government why not do more from the inside because chug meet sing does have regular meetings with Justin Trudeau so why not do more um and you know I think he’s right in saying people don’t want to have an election now and you know having an election now when this question about election interference probably not the best idea but certainly he should be probably doing more to get this government to try and act on this if he does have one of his hands on the steering wheel at this point or at least he has an inside uh you know line to the prime minister’s office okay I got to leave it on that note thanks guys very much Michael Couture and MAA Walsh we’re going to

Mike Le Couteur and Marika Walsh discuss reaction from political party leaders on the NSICOP report on foreign interference.

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