(LifeSiteNews) –The NDP joined the Liberals under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the House of Commons to vote against a Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) motion that would have compelled a broad investigation into election interference by China.
The CPC motion brought forward by MP Michael Cooper was titled “Opposition Motion (Instruction to the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (foreign interference).”
While the motion was shot down with 177 votes against to 147 in favor, it did gain the support of the Green Party, the Bloc Québécois, and two independent MPs.
The NDP, under the leadership of Jagmeet Singh, originally said his party would vote in favor of the CPC motion if Trudeau did not agree to end a Liberal filibuster that was stopping Chief of Staff Katie Telford from testifying before the House Affairs committee on Chinese election meddling.
Yesterday, Trudeau relented, under the threat of his government being potentially forced to face a confidence vote, to have Telford testify before the House Affairs committee, most likely to gain the support of the NDP.
The CPC motion would have empowered the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics to compel certain cabinet members as well as officials such as Telford and Trudeau himself to testify regarding alleged Communist Chinese Party election meddling.
The motion would have also required David Vigneault, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), to appear “on his own for two hours” to speak to the committee.
Opposition parties, notably the CPC, have been for weeks demanding that Trudeau launch a full, independent public inquiry over the China election meddling scandal.
Instead of a full public inquiry, Trudeau appointed an “independent special rapporteur” that MPs from all opposition parties had requested.
However, the “independent” rapporteur is former Governor General David Johnston, a known longtime family friend of Trudeau and member of the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation. The opposition Conservative Party of Canada blasted the appointment.
Over the weekend, the CSIS official who has been steadily leaking confidential information to the media regarding alleged interference in Canada’s elections by China said exposing interference must be done to protect the future of the integrity of the process.
Former Canadian ambassador to China David Mulroney told LifeSiteNews recently that Trudeau’s opposition to launching a full independent public inquiry into alleged interference in Canada’s elections by China only serves to embolden the communist regime even more.
The potential interference by foreign agents has many Canadians concerned, especially considering Trudeau’s past praise for China’s “basic dictatorship” and his labeling of the dictatorial nation as his favorite country other than his own.
During testimony before the House of Commons ethics committee last week, Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Cheuk Kwan revealed that he witnessed firsthand proxies of the CCP take busloads of people to vote for their preferred nomination candidate.