Poilievre says Liberals 'want to keep me from speaking freely' with security clearance

Asked near wherefore he hasn’t obtained his top out arcanum certificate clearance, Poilievre reiterated his position that doing so would muzzle him.

Not having security clearance means that Poilievre can’t look at sensitive information, such as details of the foreign intelligence report. All other party leaders have obtained the security clearances.

“What I will not commit to is the oath of secrecy that the Liberals want to impose on me,” he said, adding that a security clearance would mean getting “breadcrumbs” of intelligence without being able to publicly discuss details of security briefings.

Asked about the Globe story, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said he “tends to believe,” while not knowing for certain, that there was interference by India in the Conservative leadership race won by Poilievre, and that the Liberals “were very close to Beijing.”

That some people working at Canada’s intelligence agencies “were worried enough about that to give information to the Globe and Mail more than once must mean something,” said Blanchet. “They are careless about national security and about intrusion of foreign powers into the affairs of their own parties.”

He added that Poilievre is irresponsible for not taking steps to be briefed sooner. As I mentioned earlier, Poilievre has said he doesn’t want to be muzzled by obtaining a security clearance.

Asked whether he feels muzzled because he has obtained his security clearance, Blanchet said, “I never felt muzzled in my whole life … I say what I have to say."

Asked about why he hasn’t obtained his top secret security clearance, Poilievre reiterated his position that doing so would muzzle him.

Not having security clearance means that Poilievre can’t look at sensitive information, such as details of the foreign intelligence report. All other party leaders have obtained the security clearances.

“What I will not commit to is the oath of secrecy that the Liberals want to impose on me,” he said, adding that a security clearance would mean getting “breadcrumbs” of intelligence without being able to publicly discuss details of security briefings.

The Conservative leader claimed today that Carney is the one compromised by foreign governments.

He alleged that, while acting as an economic advisor to the Liberal government, Carney held “secret talks” with the deputy governor of China’s central bank. Poilievre claimed that Brookfield Asset Management — of which Carney was a board member — received a “quarter-billion-dollar loan” after that meeting.

Poilievre asked why Carney would be “collaborating” with a hostile foreign regime instead of acting in Canada’s interests.

“Mark Carney will never be able to protect our national interest because he has massive financial conflicts of interest overseas.”

It should be noted the meeting Poilievre is referring to was not secret. A government state agency in China publicly announced the meeting.

When asked about the Globe’s story, Poilievre began by quoting from parts of it and part of the Foreign Interference Commission’s report, which said that CSIS had no evidence to believe that he or his team were aware of the alleged interference.

“Let’s be honest. I won the leadership fair and square. Even my political competitors like Patrick Brown have publicly testified that that was the case,” he said.

He called the Globe article an “attack” put out by the Liberals.

Poilievre announced a plan to “axe the sales tax on new homes” by eliminating the GST on new homes up to $1.3 million.

He claimed the initiative would lead to 360,000 extra homes every year, boost GDP by $2.5 million and create tens of thousands of jobs for workers.

Poilievre added that “this will mean a savings of up to $65,000 on a new home, or $3,000 less in annualized mortgage payments.”

He added that a Conservative government would sell off 15 per cent of federal land for homebuilding, and cap immigration “so that population growth never exceeds the growth in the housing stock.”

The announcement is an expansion of an earlier promise. In the fall, Poilievre pledged to remove the GST on new home sales up to $1 million.

That’s a promise Carney also made a few days ago. So Poilievre is upping the ante today.

There were some curious onlookers but they peeled off during Poilievre’s particularly lengthy French remarks today.

There’s no doubt the leader’s best line among the people assembled here was his “jail not bail” pledge — it got solid applause and whoops from these construction workers. That’s a reference to his commitment to keep repeat offenders incarcerated rather than release them ahead of a trial.

Carney asked about report that Sean Fraser will seek re-election in Nova Scotia

Liberal Party Leader Mark Carney, speaking in Halifax on Tuesday, was asked about the reported return of former Liberal housing minister Sean Fraser as a candidate. Fraser said last year he wouldn’t seek re-election, citing a desire to spend more time with family.

Carney was asked in Halifax this morning about the news that former Liberal MP Sean Fraser has decided to run for re-election.

Carney said we would have to wait a few hours to see if it was true — alluding to an announcement that's expected to happen in Fraser's former riding of Central Nova this afternoon.

It creates a bit of an awkward situation, since the Liberals just nominated a candidate for the Central Nova riding last week. The nominee, Graham Murray, was the only Nova Scotia Liberal candidate absent from Carney's appearance in Halifax.

During his announcement, Poilievre took a shot at Carney for declining to participate in a debate organized by TVA. The debate would have required that each party pay a $75,000 fee.

While the other major parties agreed to pay and participate, TVA cancelled the debate once Carney declined.

“I’ll even pay Mr. Carney’s fee — so that he can show up – we’ll take that excuse away from him,” said Poilievre. “Conservatives will even pay the fee to bring him up.”

Poilievre said Carney is “hiding” from having to defend the Liberal record, and asked how Carney will be strong enough to stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump if he’s too afraid to debate.

During a campaign stop in Toronto today, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was asked about the report that India meddled in the 2022 Conservative leadership race.

Singh said the existence of the allegations was already known and that Poilievre still refused to get security clearance.

CSIS said in December that it would share some information about alleged interference with Poilievre, who has maintained that obtaining security clearance and reviewing classified documents would muzzle him.

“If you cared about the country, if you cared about democracy, you would get the security clearance and find out as much as possible to protect our country,” said Singh.

To clarify, Radio-Canada confirmed today that CSIS has no evidence that Poilievre or his team were aware of the specific efforts in question.

Singh said that Poilievre put his party’s interests over those of the country, and that this disqualifies him as a viable candidate for prime minister. Singh went on to say that the Conservative leader doesn’t take threats against the country seriously.

“That is not someone we can trust to be the prime minister,” Singh said.

Good morning. I'm a senior reporter with the Parliament Hill bureau covering the Conservative campaign.

Poilievre is now speaking during an announcement in Vaughan, Ont., a suburban area north of Toronto.

We’re in an unfinished housing development so Poilievre can pitch his plan to exempt homes worth up to $1.3 million from the GST. He says it’s a way to “bring hope to new homebuyers after Liberal inflation.”

There are about 18 construction workers here on this cold blustery morning — the media and Conservative staffing contingent is much bigger than that.

The folks assembled here don’t look terribly excited. I think it’s the weather conditions — you can’t blame them. The wind is whipping off the vacant farm fields that surround this new development.

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