Canada’s domestic spy agency has determined that China interfered in the last two elections, according to testimony in an official probe on Monday, providing the strongest evidence to date of suspected Chinese involvement in Canadian politics.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party emerged victorious in both the 2019 and 2021 elections.
Under pressure from opposition legislators concerned about media reports regarding China’s potential involvement, Trudeau established a commission to investigate foreign interference.
The commission was presented on Monday with a slide containing an excerpt from a February 2023 briefing from the Canadian Security Intelligence Services (CSIS).
The briefing said, “We know that the PRC (People’s Republic of China) clandestinely and deceptively interfered in both the 2019 and 2021 elections.”
“In both cases, these foreign interference (FI) activities were pragmatic in nature, primarily aimed at supporting individuals perceived as either ‘pro-PRC’ or ‘neutral’ on matters of interest to the PRC government.”
The existence of the assessment had previously been reported by Global News. China denies interfering in Canadian politics.
Erin O’Toole, who led the Conservatives during the 2021 campaign, estimated that Chinese interference may have cost his party up to nine seats. However, he added that it had not altered the outcome of the election.
“State actors can carry out foreign interference successfully in Canada due to minimal legal or political consequences. As a result, foreign interference poses a low-risk, high-reward scenario,” the assessment stated.
Intelligence analysts and the Conservatives argue that Trudeau’s government has not taken sufficient measures to address Chinese interference. Trudeau is scheduled to testify before the commission on Wednesday.
The Conservatives, known for adopting a tougher stance on China compared to the Liberals, campaigned in 2021 on a platform that denounced Beijing’s treatment of the Uyghur minority and pledged to prohibit Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from involvement in the 5G network.
A legislator from the left-leaning minority New Democrats informed the inquiry that after she began criticizing Beijing’s policies regarding Hong Kong, invitations to events organized by the politically influential ethnic Chinese community dwindled.
According to the official 2021 census, Canada has approximately 1.7 million people of Chinese descent, constituting just under 5% of the total population. The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the CSIS statement.
Canada announced last year that a Conservative legislator with family ties to Hong Kong had been subjected to an online disinformation campaign, leading to the expulsion of a senior Chinese diplomat.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/canadas-spy-agency-reveals-chinese-interference-in-2-elections-won-by-justin-trudeau/articleshow/109158363.cms
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