By Jessica Murphy, BBC, Toronto
ReutersForeign interference is a “stain” on Canada’s electoral process and undermines the right to a system free of “coercion or covert influence,” a public inquiry has found.
Its report also reveals that China “stands out as one of the main perpetrators” of such interference.
The inquiry investigated interference in Canada’s last two general elections, in 2019 and 2021.
But he did not find that the election result was affected.
“Our systems remain strong,” Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue said at a press conference following the report’s publication Friday.
“Voters were able to vote, their votes were duly recorded and counted, and there is no suggestion that there was any interference in this regard.”
The preliminary report is the first of two expected by the commission.
It explores foreign interference in both elections as well as how information about the interference was handled by senior officials during the election period.
The report says China “clandestinely exploited” Canadian officials in an effort to help its “favorite” candidates win the 2019 election.
China did this by using Canadian-based officials as “proxies” to exclude “political candidates perceived as ‘anti-China’ from participating” in events related to local elections, the report said.
The report also said intelligence assessments indicated at least two fund transfers – approximately $250,000 (£192,000) each – from Chinese officials in Canada, “possibly for purposes related to interference foreign”.
Another foreign interference tactic mentioned in the report is the targeting of Canadians in the diaspora by threatening their families in their home countries. He blames both China and Russia.
The 194-page document is based on the inquiry’s first phase of hearings, which heard public testimony in April from witnesses including MPs, national security officials, senior government aides and the prime minister Justin Trudeau.
In his testimony, Mr. Trudeau defended his government’s efforts to ensure election integrity and said the 2019 and 2021 federal votes were “free and fair” and decided solely by Canadians.
The committee also held closed hearings on classified information related to this matter.
During the public hearings, Canadians learned about some of the ways China and other foreign governments may have attempted to interfere in the last two elections.
In a briefing note presented to the inquiry, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) said the Chinese government intervened “covertly and deceptively” in both elections.
Intelligence services have warned that declassified information could be single-sourced, incomplete and have “varying degrees of reliability”.
Some of the allegations heard during the investigation include:
- That Beijing funded a charter bus in 2019 to send Chinese students from private schools to help a liberal politician secure his party’s nomination, and that the students were forced to support him. The politician Han Dong denied knowledge of anything inappropriate.
- An attempt to funnel funds from China during the 2019 election to an unnamed candidate’s staffer and then to others, in a possible attempt at interference, according to an unclassified CSIS document
- Former Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole said he believes his party lost as many as nine seats in 2021 in ridings with large Chinese-Canadian populations due to interference efforts.
- Conservative MP Michael Chong explains how he learned he was the target of a Chinese campaign over his support for China’s Uyghur minority, including misinformation on the social media app WeChat.
- In the case of India, CSIS said the activities were carried out by a proxy agent of the Indian government and “were focused on a small number of electoral constituencies” to support pro-Indian candidates.
China and India have repeatedly denied allegations that they were among the countries that interfered in Canada’s affairs.
Those affected by the alleged interference attempts have accused officials and CSIS of not doing enough to combat the phenomenon, or of keeping them completely in the dark.
Further hearings will take place this fall and the final report of the investigation is expected by the end of the year.
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