 Good evening, everyone. I am very happy tonight to be accompanied by Minister Leblanc, Mendicino, Rodriguez and Jolie. We are here today to discuss measures of our government to protect our democracy and our institutions against foreign interference. In the last couple of weeks, Canadians have been hearing and reading a lot about the issue of attempted foreign interference, particularly from China, in our elections. There have been questions raised about our democracy, our national security agencies, our parliament and even our sovereignty. These questions strike us to the very core as Canadians. Canadians pay attention to these questions because they know that protecting our democracy is extremely important. We all agree that upholding confidence in our democratic process, in our elections, in our institutions is of utmost importance. This is not and should never be a partisan issue. I understand that people want answers and Canadians deserve reassurance. I will get to the details in a moment. Today I am announcing that I will be appointing an independent special rapporteur who will have a wide mandate and make expert recommendations on combating interference and strengthening our democracy. But first, I want to lay out some of what we have been doing and will do further to continue to protect our democracy and our institutions. In Canada, we believe deeply in the values of freedom, openness and dialogue. These values are not universally shared by every government around the world. Indeed, I don't know if in our lifetime we have seen democracy in a more precarious place. Many state actors and non-state actors want to foster instability here and elsewhere to advance their own interests. We have long known and an independent report confirmed it again last week that the Chinese government and other regimes like Iran and Russia have attempted to interfere not just in our democracy but in our country in general, whether it's our institutions, our businesses, our research facilities or in the daily lives of our citizens. This is not a new problem, but before we came into office, there was no dedicated process to counter foreign interference in our elections. We saw the impacts of foreign interference in places like the United States and in France during their elections in 2016 and 2017. These threats evolve and continue to evolve. We took big steps to protect the integrity of our democracy. Things we did in response to the changes we saw around us because that's what responsible leadership does. During the last two elections, in 2019 and 2021, a non-partisan group of high-functionary officials determined that the attempts of interference did not compromise the results of our elections. This panel is part of a mechanism, a protocol that we created in early 2019 so that independent, expert public servants can communicate clearly and impartially with Canadians during an election in the event of incidents that threaten the integrity of the federal election. After 2019, the panel and the protocol were reviewed by James Judd, former director of CESIS. And after the 2021 election, the panel and the protocol were again reviewed, this time by Morris Rosenberg, former senior deputy minister under both conservative and liberal governments. Both independent reviews made recommendations that we've studied closely. Between the 2019 and 2021 elections, using Mr. Judd's recommendations, we updated the protocol and strengthened it. We are now reviewing Mr. Rosenberg's recommendations and Minister Leblanc is working on an implementation plan for as quickly as possible. Today, all political leaders agree that the election outcomes in 2019 and in 2021 were not impacted by foreign interference. But even if it didn't change the results of any of our elections, any interference attempt by any foreign actor is troubling and serious. Attempted interference is something that's been happening for a long time. In Canada, in a very long time, we've been trying to find a solution to this problem. Attempted interference is something that's been happening for a long time. In Canada and in many other countries around the world. But how it happens is evolving, including with the rise of technology and social media. This is why, since 2015, we've taken big steps to protect the integrity of our democracy. In 2017, we created the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians so that top-secret, cleared MPs and Senators can look deeply into these issues. The Parliamentary Committee on National Security and their Education unites representatives of all parties recognized by the House of Commons and representatives of the Senate. They all hold a very secret security code in order to examine the activities of our national security and intelligence agencies. And a PSYCOP has examined foreign interference in the past and tabled a comprehensive report to the public and to Parliament. This report focused on the period between 2015 and 2018. They also looked at the classified report reviewing the work of the panel in the 2019 election. In 2018, we passed legislation to strengthen elections financing laws to keep foreign money out. And when we hosted the G7 summit that year in Charlevoix, we established the rapid response mechanism as a way for the G7 countries to respond to diverse and evolving foreign threats to democracy. In 2019, we brought in our plan to protect democracy. This plan included the creation of the panel of independent public servants that I mentioned earlier. It also included the creation of the Security and Intelligence Threats to Election Task Force, which is made up of our top security agencies and advises the panel on potential threats. We also created the Office of Surveillance of National Security and Intelligence Affairs, the OSSNR, NCRA in English, which is an organization that examines activities related to national security and to teach companies by government. And last year, we set up a new legislative measure to protect our cyber security. These are only a few examples of what our government has done to address foreign interference since 2015. And we're working on doing more. But we have to make sure that we're taking responsible steps without jeopardizing the work of our intelligence community and non-partisan officials to keep Canadians safe. Today, I spoke with David McGinty, the head of NSICOP, and with Marie Deschamps, the head of NCRA. I underscored that Canadians need to have faith in their institutions and deserve answers and transparency. I talked with them about undertaking urgent work on the issue of foreign interference within their mandates. Today, I spoke with David McGinty, the head of NSICOP, and with Marie Deschamps, the head of the OSSNR. I underscored that Canadians need to have faith in their institutions and deserve answers and transparency. I talked about undertaking urgent work on foreign interference within their mandate. NSICOP includes representatives from all recognized parties in the House of Commons House of Commons plus representatives from the Senate. They all already have top secret clearances so they can review the activities of our national security and intelligence agencies. NSICOP has already received the classified version of the report reviewing the work of the 2021 panel and will be updating their last report reviewing foreign interference with a focus on our elections. When democratic institutions are under attack it is just that it be parliamentarians, elected officials who should be stepping up to protect those institutions. This is why we created NSICOP and gave them the tools to review these matters and report their findings and recommendations to parliament. NSERA is an external and independent expert body designed to review the collection and use of sensitive intelligence by government including for all of our national security agencies and ensure that they are meeting the high standards Canadians expect of them. They are well placed to determine how the system is working across intelligence agencies and government departments, what information flowed or didn't flow properly, and why. They also produce reports publicly to parliament. Despite all of this I know that there are people out there who don't believe that this is enough and I get that. This is why we're entrusting further work to someone impartial. In the coming days we will appoint an eminent Canadian to the position of independent special rapporteur who will have a wide mandate to make expert recommendations on protecting and enhancing Canadians faith in our democracy. In the coming weeks the independent special rapporteur will be responsible for informing the work of NSERA and NSICOP and any other existing processes like those by elections Canada and to identify any gaps in our system. The independent special rapporteur will make public recommendations which could include a formal inquiry or some other independent review process. In the coming days we will appoint an eminent Canadian to the position of independent special rapporteur who will have a wide mandate to formulate specialized recommendations on protecting our democracy. In the coming weeks the independent special rapporteur will be responsible for orienting the work of the NSNR and the CPSNR and that will be done in the other processes in place, especially in the election Canada, in view of closing gaps in our system, if there are any. In the past few weeks people have expressed many different views about the steps we should be taking to answer questions about foreign interference. To me it comes down to two things, that our democratic institutions are safe from foreign interference and that Canadians have confidence that it is so. This impartial respected person will ensure transparency and also protection of our institutions, members of our intelligence agencies and all Canadians. Now some people have argued strongly that a public inquiry is the necessary next step. Some others have pointed out the flaws and challenges of a public inquiry. That's why we will ask the independent special rapporteur as one of the first tasks of their mandate to provide the government with a recommendation as to what the appropriate next step should be, whether it be an inquiry, an investigation, or a judicial review, and what the scope of that work may be. And we will abide by their recommendation. As I said, we have done a lot of work, but we know that we can continue to act with other measures right now to protect our institutions, our democracy, and Canadians against foreign interference. That's why I have tasked Minister Mendocino to launch later this week a consultation to guide how we will set up a new foreign influence transparency registry in Canada. We need to make sure there is transparency and accountability from those who advocate on behalf of foreign governments while protecting communities who are often both targeted by attempts at foreign interference and who feel targeted when xenophobia and fearmongering overtake legitimate concern for our democracy and national security. It's very important that we start with this consultation because we have to be mindful of history any time we're talking about registries of foreigners in our country. I've also tasked Minister Mendocino to immediately establish a counter foreign interference coordinator in Public Safety Canada. This office will ensure that we're taking on these issues across government in a coordinated way. I've also tasked Minister Leblanc and the Clerk of the Privy Council to review and bring forward a plan to implement any outstanding recommendations from NSICOP, the Rosenberg Report, and any other reviews on these matters in the next 30 days. Finally, today I can announce that we're investing $5.5 million to build capacity of civil society organizations to combat disinformation because we know disinformation, often generated abroad, can be a real threat to our elections and it's a threat that the federal government cannot combat alone. We will always stand firm when it comes to defending our national security. Just like we stood firm when we worked day and night to bring back the two Michaels after they were arbitrarily detained in China, including over the course of the 2019 and 2021 elections. As Canadians, we all felt a collective effort to work together to bring them home and we felt tremendous relief when we finally got them home. But let's remember that throughout there were repeated calls by eminent Canadians, both conservative and liberal, to simply capitulate to the Chinese government to give in to their demands to ignore our extradition treaty with the United States and ignore the values and the principles of rule of law on which Canada is grounded. But we didn't. We stood strong as a government. We stood strong as Canadians for our values and for the rule of law and we got them home that way. That's what a prime minister does. That's what responsible leadership is. Foreign interference is a complex landscape that should not be boiled down to sound bites and binary choices and it should certainly not be about partisan politics. As politicians, we work hard on building trust with Canadians every single day. But it is also our duty to do everything we can so that Canadians can trust our institutions now and into the future because our institutions will and must outlast every politician. As politicians, we work every day to establish trust links with people. But it is also our duty to do everything we can to support Canadians' trust in our institutions. Our institutions are the foundations of our democracy. Even when they're strong, even when they're sturdy, if there's a perception that they might not be, it needs to be addressed. And we need to work beyond partisanship to work together. Canada is one of the most stable democracies in the world. But that didn't happen by accident and it will not continue without effort. So to all Canadians, this is an issue that we continue to take extremely seriously and we will continue this work to uphold and strengthen your confidence in our democracy in Canada.