Ottawa, ON – Melissa Lantsman, Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, released the following statement:

“After nine years, Justin Trudeau has failed Jewish Canadians. Yesterday, the Trudeau Government came up with yet another excuse for their appalling new appointee to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, that they didn’t bother to research his background or perform proper checks.

“The Trudeau government’s story has constantly changed as they seek to avoid accountability. First, they said they didn’t know anything about their appointee’s past, then they revealed they knew about his online aliases, and now they claim that because of a so-called ‘administrative oversight’, they didn’t perform background checks or even a Google search with the information they had.

“No one believes this attempt by Justin Trudeau and his Justice Minister to shift blame to anyone but themselves. And just as no one believes this excuse, no one believes that the Liberals’ sham investigation into this matter serves any other purpose than to sweep the entire controversy under the rug.

“Trudeau’s new Human Rights Commissioner has defended the use of terrorism as a ‘rational and well-calculated strategy.’ He has also compared Israelis to the Nazis, shared a platform with radical extremists who oppose Israel’s existence, and participated in an anti-Israel rally following the death of a senior Hamas terrorist.

“Justin Trudeau must immediately fire his new Human Rights Commissioner, not continue to push ahead to give him massive new authority to regulate speech with his latest online censorship bill.

“Common Sense Conservatives will continue to push for open and public hearings at the Justice Committee into this disastrous appointment. That means that Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, the NDP and the Bloc have a clear choice to make: will they continue to protect Trudeau and his appointee or will they finally agree to bring Canadians the truth?”