The West Block: What’s Trudeau and Poilievre’s summer strategy as make-or-break byelection looms?

the RCMP is Canada’s Frontline defense against National Security threats but as those threats become more common and more complex how are the mounties dealing with them I’m Mercedes Stevenson the West block Starts Now terrorism cyber crime and foreign interference are huge responsibilities all under the RCMP umbrella we sit down with the commissioner of the Royal Canadian and Mounted Police Mike duam to talk National Security the house shall stand adjourned and the house has risen for the summer what were the highs and lows and what’s in the future for prime minister Justin Trudeau our inside politics panel joins us to wrap up the session it’s one of the world’s most recognizable police forces and when it comes to the law the RCMP is the face of Canada in Global Security circles that includes the five eyes intelligence Alliance alongside the US UK Australia and New Zealand and the international criminal police organization interpole the RCMP is seeing unprecedented threats according to senior sources from National Security to foreign interference and it’s putting the pressure on the force like never before Mike duam joined the front lines of the force 37 years ago and officially became the commissioner 2 months ago after several months as interm leader thanks so much for joining us commissioner thanks for having me Mercedes if you had to describe the complexity of the National Security picture and the threats what would you say I’d say what when you’re looking at uh the complexity is far greater than what we’ve seen uh before because the technology because of the Cyber uh aspect of everything but also and and cus had had share this the the concern with imv the ideologically motivated violent extremists that uh we’ve seen arise within the organization within the country and uh that is a challenge sometimes because people are being radicalized in their basement at home where uh nobody’s aware of it and uh sometimes uh people will report people sometimes we’re lucky with intelligence but that is a concern with the type of environment we’re actually working in and when you speak of idvs the average Canadian would probably call that Terror groups large they can be far right uh they could be Hamas or U Isis Affiliated there’s a whole range but there’s a desire to carry out violence in the name of of religion or of ideology there was a very serious Terror plot here just before Christmas in which you arrested a teenager and and I know a lot of it hasn’t been made public but there were explosives TP it was a fairly Advanced plot that included dates and targets um in Ottawa after October 7th I feel like we haven’t talked a lot about terrorism in Canada what is the Threat Level there well you look at uh I’m not going to comment too much on the file but here’s another example where law enforcement the service and international Partners work well together uh the threat right now obviously October 7 changed the landscape especially when it comes to hate crime uh you look at um the incidents that are happened in major cities uh it it’s it’s taxing for police resources are there because you’re seeing a number of demonstration uh exceeding the number that they’re normally used to one of the concerns I know our five eyes partner have is is foreign interference and it’s it’s such a broad topic so I want to take it step by step on that one the first one I wanted to ask you about is one that I hear about from senior National Security sources regularly and that is the concern that organized crime in Canada is actually being used uh to conduct foreign interference for States like Iran or China not only uh to carry out operations but in some cases to carry out assassinations is that a threat that you’re seeing it it is a concern and again it’s a concern with the five eyes and you’re seeing that around the world uh we if you recall several months ago the US indicted two Canadians with regards to they were approached by Iran uh a contract to actually kill an individual these two people are well known in The Outlaw motorcycle World they were in prison so it just demonstrate what’s going on and and there are others as well that causes concern when you look at foreign interference we keep hearing from the government that not to worry about the allegations on members of parliament because you know the RCMP will look into things but again I hear from senior source that it it is not as simple as it’s being portrayed that there are not necessarily laws on the books that would allow for all the MPS in question and what’s being described which of course none of us in the public have seen um to be charged criminally is it realistic to hand this file to you and say you’ll take care of foreign interference with MPS and I’ve read the report is there was not enough elements at the time to switch to to to forward the file to the RCMP since then uh I’ve asked Deputy Commissioner Mark Flynn who’s in charge of national National Security program to just to go back to the service see if there’s anything changed on the landscape but you know I’ve been hearing everything that’s going on since the report was table and I think we we got to be cautious about a right to know and a need to know and I I understand parliamentary priv privilege to a certain extent but if we start disclosing a lot of the secret information the top secret information there’s trade crafts involved in that there’s people’s lives that could be at risk because sometimes information can come from a single source so I think we really have to be mindful and we have to be mindful of what the impact we’ll have on the international partners who are supplying some of that information you mentioned uh in testimony I believe it was last week fairly recently that you had a number of contracts you were investigating criminal investigations of course we all know about the arrive can investigation but that it went beyond that Federal contracts that could potentially be fraudulent can you tell us what that’s about yeah uh following uh following the complaint that we had received uh and then uh there is a second complaint that was received um we received several other complaints from departments with regards to procurment process in which our teams are investigating the reality is you don’t have a lot of people to carry out these investigations what is the situation for the RCMP is you try to be both the traffic cops who stop people and give tickets and also the FBI investigating organized crime and Terror organizations the reality is Mercedes if you asked any chief of police for any Chiefs of police across this country do you have enough resources they all say no because we always want to do more the reality is is I have a budget to respect and we have uh we have a pool of resources to which uh and it’s always been like this in law enforcement you got to prioritize the work that needs to be done and we assign the resources to the priority in line with Public Safety but what effect does that have on your Frontline officers the RCMP is predominately in rural areas but in larger cities uh the conversation I’ve been having with Chiefs police is uh they’re getting tired getting it’s taxing are you concerned about the increase in hate crimes and the increase in uh what many in the Jewish Community have described as intimidating activity outside their homes outside their synagogues outside places other than the Israeli Embassy or Israeli consulates yeah I I am concerned because we’ve seen a spike since uh since October and this is no different than all chiefs police from across the country but I again uh we’re working collaborative together and uh we’re addressing the situation of as we can do you feel the laws being enforced as it could be I think we could probably do more I think we could probably do more and a little bit more aggressive when we’re looking at what kind of charges that can be laid to a certain individual and and I share this uh I share others with many people that uh protesting in front of a member of parliament’s office is one thing or in Parliament Hill is another but when you’re protesting in front of a resident of an elected official or a senior government official I think that’s where you cross the line and that’s intimidation and even harassment and that’s I think we have to be more aggressive and just here in Ottawa last week there was an upside down triangle painted on the Jewish Community Center um the upside down triangle is a military symbol that Hamas um and related military units used to Mark T I know the RCMP are looking into that can you tell me if you have any information or or how aggressively you’re pursuing that yeah so any uh so what starts off as a hate crime usually it’s police or jurisdiction in this case would be Ottawa Ottawa Police Service that of investigating and we will bring a national security team just working side by side with them because if there’s an ideology behind it that we can prove it then you got into you go into terrorist uh you can go into different terrorist charges so we work hand in hand with pojs across the country when comes out it starts up with hate crime but sometimes it it boils up as to much more than just a hate crime are you concerned that any of these protests could lead to violence oh for sure there’s any protests when you have uh a number of people together uh against a common cause uh you have the potential to escalate uh that this position that the situation is going escalate I find that law enforcement across the country are doing a good job with their liaison program where they liaz with the organizers to make sure it doesn’t get to a point where it gets uh it gets violent you mentioned politicians and the threats to them Marco menichino um was spit on near Parliament last week there was a video of this online and and you mentioned the threats to politicians the Justice ministers kind of pushed back on your assessment that there need to be new laws he says you have everything you need on the books do you agree with him yeah I I think uh I don’t disagree with with minister of Irani I think what we have to look at is is is the the the tality of of the the environment we’re operating in and even though there’s a criminal threshold to be met but I’m not quite sure if we’re assessing the totality of the environment for the thresholds because as I said earlier just going in front of a member elected official or a a a government High Senior government official with regards to one time in front of the residents it might not constitute harassment but if you take the factors that are going on the geopolitical factors are going on uh the number of demos I mean that’s in itself it’s intimidation or harassment but I just think that if we are going to start addressing this I think we have to take a more aggressive approach commissioner Dam thank you so much for taking the time to come on the show thanks Mercedes up next the house has risen for the summer our inside politics panel gives us their highlights and low lights of the session the house of common session is over after a tumultuous time on Parliament hell I wish everyone a safe and restful summer and time to connect with your constituents and with your loved ones from leaders sparring over the economy we’re stepping up for Canadians they’re stepping up for the rich why is it that every time he mentions the middle class they get poor and members wary of each other over foreign interference this places a cloud of Suspicion over every single member of the House elected members now MPS have risen for the summer break hitting the barbecue circuit in their ridings while the conservative leader has hit the road Pierre PV has loaded his family into an RV for a campaign style summer tour kicking it off in Montreal where his party hasn’t held a seat on the island since 1988 the Prime Minister meantime is facing a crucial byelection tomorrow in the heart of Toronto traditionally a liberal stronghold all eyes will be watching how the liberals do this time in the writing of Toronto St Paul’s to chat about this and the big wins and losses of this parliamentary session are Bob F of the glob and mail and Stephanie Lovitz from the Toronto Star great to have you both back on the show welcome you it has been a political season like no other it’s been incredibly busy all kinds of scandals controversies polls moving all over the place we wanted to ask ask both of you your thoughts on the top stories the ones that stood out to you Steph starting with you I mean the overarching narrative I think since the house came back has been the economy right and the fight over it who’s doing what who’s doing too much who’s doing enough who is responsible for what’s going on the Liberals really trying to change the narrative the attacks that Pier POV has been lobbing at them for so long about them being responsible for everything that’s going wrong in the economy trying to regain some footing some confidence amongst Canadians that they have this issue under control finally seizing on housing finally seizing on the idea of you know sort of generational fairness looking out for younger Canadians these of course both being two issues that Pier poov has been very strong on and leading in such a way that you know polls have him somewhere between 14 points and 20 points ahead of the Liberals which is crushing for them well Bob what stands I mean obviously economy huge too um what else you think she’s right the number one priority for Canadians is the economy that’s the issue where the Liberals have tried to fight back and are losing uh it’s the one issue that uh Mr PV has been able to win on but for me uh I think there’s an issue that Canadians have won on and that’s foreign interference we’ve uh starting last year uh when Global and Global uh glob M did a series of Stories on uh classified documents that outlaid the extent of Chinese foreign interference in the 2019 and 2020 elections we had a government that dragged its feet accused did not want to do anything on that finally we forced a public inquiry and more significantly uh it forced the government after the the first report from the uh from Justice hog on our public inquiry we’ve got legislation that is just passed the Senate it’s been sworn into law and it’s very important because we have we now have for we’ll have a foreign agent uh registry we’re going to make uh foreign interference or criminal offense which will finally give the RCMP the tools to be able to in investigate and charge people and cus is now going to change the Mandate so they can tell uh people who are being targeted or parliamentarians more of what is actually going on so all of this to me is being a big win uh for for the Canadian people it’s not something the government wanted to have happen uh but uh finally we’ve we’re getting we’re getting some real significant movement on this well when I look at both the economy and foreign interference both of them track to Justin Trudeau he’s someone who’s been front and center on the file of course he’s the Prime Minister how much do you think these issues have stuck to him and that makes him really our top story of the Season well I mean you take foreign interference as an example right the the Common Thread through all of this is that ultimately in our country the Prime Minister has direct responsibility o over only a few things and one of those things is National Security the buck stops with Justin Trudeau on the foreign interference file he is is the one who absolutely knows what all the intelligence says who knows all the names who can know whatever he wants to know he can pick up the phone and call David VI whenever he feels like it and say Hey you know tell me about this thing and so the fact that the government was refusing and dithering and dallying and ducking and all of the dwords that could possibly come up with turning this into a dumpster fire to borrow another dword um it says something about this government’s competence I guess is is my overarching point right it is a fair to say that they alone are not responsible for the economic ills facing this nation it is complex it is difficult it is international it’s about everything from conflict like global conflict to the weather they they can’t control for that what they can control for is the Safety and Security of our country and so when arguments are being put to Mr Trudeau uh about foreign interference about defense spending about issues like that and his competence is being questioned that’s where it becomes so difficult and so when you have that line of argument and you also have that parallel AR happening on the economy hey buddy you know you’re making my life worse and the Liberals being unable to I think explain to people in a nice clean way when it doesn’t seem like they’re making excuses but actually explaining why not all of this is their fault it puts them in a really tough position Bob the number one question that I get asked by friends family viewers when I run into them outside of work is is Justin Trudeau going to stay on as the Prime Minister how does all of this affect his political IC future well you’re absolutely right because this is all that anybody in this town is talking about not only in this town but anywhere and and you’ve hit the nail on the head uh the government is tired now it’s had nine years uh it’s reached the end of the road and all government Canadian government’s whatever political stripe by the time they get the 9 to 10 years they’re finished and uh Mr Trudeau is at a point now where I don’t think he can say anything because I don’t that anybody will either believe or listen to him anymore I think people have just shut off from listening to him that’s not to say that the liberal party is dead or that it can’t they can’t beat uh Mr PV but they can’t I don’t think they can do it with with Justin Trudeau I think he’s just he people have had it with him and as they have with other leaders so it has nothing to do with a political party or political preference it’s just that’s the way our political system operates but if the Liberals can and I think he’s got till August if he decid in August to go then there’s enough time but if he stays after August um there’s not going to be time to organize a leadership convention I think we should just accept the fact that he’s serious about running and he’ll meet his own fate uh when the election is called but if he does go we’re there’s going we’re going to be able to have some very attractive candidates out there uh you know Philip frano Champagne For example The Innovation Minister melan jol Mark Carney the former Bank of Canada Bank of England Governor there CH to Freeland there’s some very competent people out there and I if I was Mr PV I’d be wishing for Mr trudo to stay Steph one of the things that I hear um from Liberal insiders is that they believe part of the reason Justin Trudeau is sticking around is because he he genuinely hates peer POV um and it’s personal and he he wants to run against him whatever you think of those two politicians they’re both battling it out and Mr POV of course is out um in an RV interesting strategy with his wife two beautiful children going around Quebec glad handing meeting people I’m curious to know what you think of Mr pov’s future in light of Mr Trudeau’s Target on him I mean the Quebec the Quebec summer tour it was ever thus now for for elections pass that the conservatives believe they’re on the cusp of a breakthrough in Quebec and they’re absolutely going to do it and they have a strategy and they’re going to get these votes and Mr P I think is like leaders you know before him who who’ve put a lot of time and energy into Quebec and one of the interesting things about Quebec for Mr PV of course it’s the one place in the country where his poll numbers haven’t taken off like a rocket um and some of that is about the complex politics in Quebec the presence of the BL cuqua uh but he clearly wants to make inroads there you know last summer was really the summer for Mr PV to go and introduce himself to Canadians he was coming out of his first parliamentary you know two sessions as a leader no one really knew him yet it was hey meet me here’s my story I he ditched his glasses he got new suits he it was the introduced me T her this summer you have to look and wonder what is the the ultimate goal for the PO of conservatives have they peaked in popularity that is possible polls can only move so much how do they keep that momentum how do they broaden out their base of support keep their base motivated and engaged if we are in fact not looking at an election till the fall of 2025 which seems realistic um Mr Po has to keep people believing in him and if the key thing you know if there’s two key things that are driving his support one is a sense of the Liberals have lost control of the economy and two is just exhaustion with the current liberal government the exhaustion’s not going to go away but the economy could get better and it really takes some of the punch out of Mr pv’s argument uh that he’s going to put in front of Canadians uh last word to you Bob we just have a few seconds left but your thoughts on the PO of RV summer to or well look I think it’s really smart move because last summer uh to Stephanie’s point is that uh his numbers shot up when people got to see the peer po that we didn’t see in the that they often see in the House of Commons being very partisan but they saw a warmer humorous family man and his numbers shot up and have pretty much stayed that way in Quebec the the numbers have gone up but not uh enough to to Really threaten the block or the Liberals but they’re shooting up and this is a smart move on his behalf to introduce himself to quebeckers his wife is fluently bilingual from Quebec originally from Venezuela so I I I I’m going to be very interesting to see after this tour how the polls react to his summer tour well we all be interested in seeing of course uh Which Way Toronto St Paul goes possible indicator for Justin trudo’s future and how Pier PV is received we’ll have you both back here in the fall to take a look at what to expect in the year ahead thanks for a fantastic season summer the house will resume sitting on September 16th and this is our last show until then coming up I’ll have my thoughts on the season that was now for one last thing as we head into summer when politicians hit the barbecue and parade circuits will enter our annual summer Hiatus I want to thank some of the people who have worked on this show you don’t see them but they deserve the credit our control room is in Edmonton making us a truly National show to Clinton the Edmonton team thank you for being the voice in my ear our camera people editors and Engineers solve endless techn Gremlins come in early and leave late Frank Luigi Haslett Cass Diana Justin Aiden and Tony the show wouldn’t make air without you thanks to Sarah who makes us all look great on camera and this show is put together by an incredible team of producers show producer Denise who is the host Wrangler in richer of content and the calest person I know executive producer Bernadet whose passion and dedication have elevated the West block she prefers to be behind the scenes meticulously supervising to deliver the quality show show our viewers deserve and Associate producer soal whose Gentle Spirit and sharp mind have saved me more times than I can count we also want to remember a dear friend of the show who passed away suddenly last week Mark Blanchard Mark was our brilliant quirky Miracle producing generous technical producer at Global News he was a legend in the news industry Mark got this show to air from lvia to Ukraine not to mention all over North America he found ways to get cameras and live feeds to guests worldwide wide we will always hear Mark’s voice guiding us but we will miss him so much our thoughts are with his family thanks for everything Mark we’ll see you back here in September

Are the RCMP currently investigating the allegations of some MPs ‘wittingly’ colluding with foreign states? ‘The West Block’ host Mercedes Stephenson sits down RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme to discuss foreign interference and whether the names of MPs flagged in the NSICOP report should be publicized. Duheme also addresses the national security threats facing Canada and the growing threats facing politicians.

Plus, Parliament rises for the summer break. Stephenson is joined by Bob Fife, the Globe and Mail’s Ottawa bureau chief, and Stephanie Levitz, the Toronto Star’s deputy Ottawa bureau chief, to look back on the key issues that dominated the spring sitting. The panel also looks ahead to the parties’ summer strategy and discusses whether Justin Trudeau will stay on as prime minister.

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