For months, the Trudeau Liberals have dismissed allegations of foreign interference into elections, only to seemingly take them seriously as part of a strategy to nod to conspiracy theories about Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

Amidst a party rebellion clamouring for him to quit, the prime minister told the Foreign Interference Commission earlier this month that he has the “names” of a “number” of Conservative parliamentarians “who are engaged, or at high risk of,” foreign interference. That revelation was not itself overly shocking, as a national security committee reported in June that there were several MPs from multiple parties, including the Liberals, who may be “wittingly assisting” foreign governments.