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Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Through you, I'd like to thank the witnesses for being here today.

I'm going to focus on three areas, and again, whichever witness is most appropriate to respond, I will leave to you to decide.

We talked a little bit about MP security, and since I was elected in 2015, we have seen a lot of advancement in terms of our physical safety, whether it be the panic buttons we have been provided or our residence and constituency office security systems.

I have been talking a little bit about this, and I haven't received any updates and/or movement on it. The House is in session, and right now it's what we call the “silly season” and we're sitting until midnight often. What happens is that the House will adjourn at midnight, and you have a group of MPs walking in downtown Ottawa at 12:30 at night.

I asked, I remember, in a previous meeting to see if it was possible for the shuttle bus to do a loop to some of the local hotels. We work it out among ourselves to walk home together so that we're not walking alone. It's great that I have my panic button, but it's basically just going to record somebody attacking me.

Is there a possibility of looking into the shuttle service? I know that with the Senate building being a little farther away, we do pass in front of hotels. Is this something that could be put in place for those who feel they need it?

Thank you.

I do want to follow up on another issue, and, again, it might sound bizarre. When you were last here in April 2022, I brought this up, and I'm glad we have Mr. Brookson, the Sergeant-at-Arms and the Speaker here in front of me. I'm sure you know where I'm going to go with this.

When we were in Centre Block, the two entrances for the Senate and for the House of Commons had an overhang so that the Parliamentary Protective Service who were outside waiting for the MPs and the Senators to come in were covered from the elements. Right now the West Block entrance that comes off Wellington has no cover over it, so our PPS officers are exposed to the elements. They are standing out in freezing cold, and I've witnessed a chunk of ice fall from West Block and almost hit an agent.

Had it been one of us, I'm sure something would get put in there, but I would be remiss to not ask. I understand there might be a line of sight issue. Is there not a way that we can have some sort of overhang, canopy or protective structure put in place temporarily while we're in West Block to protect the agents who are here to protect us?

I would be most remiss if I did not ask again about putting something in place.

Thank you.

If I have time, quickly, to the Speaker, with redistribution they'll be adding five new members of Parliament next time around. Have we started looking at the space that is going to be required for those additional MPs?

I have a point of order.

Madam Chair, under Standing Order 18, it is inappropriate to make reference impugning the integrity of a sitting member of Parliament, so I ask the member opposite to withdraw that statement.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for being with us today.

My first question is for Professor Leuprecht.

The last panel we heard from had some pretty powerful testimony with respect to foreign interference and the fact that it's been going on for decades. I'm not sure if you were watching, but in that last panel we heard about the case of a Chinese state-run agency, Xinhua, asking a journalist to spy on the former prime minister. A reporter at that same news agency was involved in a scandal with the parliamentary secretary to foreign affairs minister John Baird, Bob Dechert, in an apparent honeytrap operation.

How concerning is it that this was all so close to an important ministry like foreign affairs?

Professor Leuprecht, I'm going to follow up on what you just mentioned in terms of financial matters. Could you confirm that Mr. Baird went to work for a Chinese billionaire after he resigned from the foreign affairs post? Is that something you think should be addressed in our legislative recommendations?

Further to that, on our previous panel Mr. Juneau-Katsuya said that Prime Minister Stephen Harper became “soft” on China at the end of his mandate due to agents of influence getting to him. What would you make of that assessment?

Thank you very much.

My next question is for Professor Juneau. In full disclosure, we both have the same alma mater, which is McGill University.

Professor Juneau, you mentioned a bit about the overclassification of classified information. Can you elaborate on that a bit ? Also, can you provide me with any feedback with respect to the same questions that I asked the previous witness?

Thank you so much.

I have one last question for Professor Leuprecht. Do you think then minister Baird made any decisions at Foreign Affairs that lead you to believe there was some level of elite capture?

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Through you, I'd like to thank the witness for being with us today.

Ms. Byrne, we heard from a former intelligence officer today, in a previous panel, that there is evidence of attempts at foreign interference that go back decades. From Prime Minister Mulroney to the current Prime Minister, there have been attempts at foreign interference. You just mentioned that, in your time as deputy chief of staff, you were never briefed on attempts at foreign interference.

Did I understand that correctly?

How could it be that the former deputy chief of staff was not briefed at all by CSIS about attempts at foreign interference, when CSIS intelligence officers have testified there were attempts?

I'd like to stop you, because I have very limited time and want to share my time with other colleagues.

In your capacity as co-deputy chief of staff, you would have been privy to the mandate letters of ministers. Could you confirm whether any mandate letters for any ministers' parliamentary secretaries or others had any reference to foreign interference and combatting foreign interference?

Okay. Thank you very much.

I'm going to turn my time over to Mr. Turnbull, who also has some questions.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and thank you to the witnesses for being here today.

I will make one request of Mr. Chiu, and I have a question for Mr. Salvo.

Mr. Chiu, you mentioned that soon after 2020, you were provided a briefing by CSIS, and two more additional times. I'm going to ask you to submit to this committee the dates of those meetings you had with CSIS, for our timeline.

Mr. Salvo, you were talking a bit about the difficulties with respect to making sure average Canadians, and in your case Americans, understand what foreign interference looks like, some of the tactics that are used, and how we can detect, deter and counter some of those initiatives.

Can you elaborate a bit about any advice you would have for us in terms of recommendations that perhaps parliamentarians and their staff could be briefed on such tactics? What would you recommend our committee look at in terms of the detection and deterrents?

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Through you, I'd like to thank the witnesses for being here with us this evening.

My first question is for Mr. Andrey.

You brought up some very interesting information with respect to disinformation campaigns and social media. We all know how disinformation campaigns on social media were used in Crimea prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

We all know that members of Parliament have a role to play in terms of informing our constituencies, but we also have a responsibility to make sure the information we are providing people is accurate.

One of the areas you mentioned, which I think would be interesting to hear a little more about, is the evolution of AI and what that can do in terms of misinformation campaigns out there. I've seen videos that have obviously been faked. They look and sound like a person but have been proven to be incorrect.

Can you elaborate a bit on what you're seeing on the ground in this regard, and how we can combat that?