The good news is that foreign interference did not overturn the results of the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. The bad news is that there have been numerous attempts at interference, and candidates and Canadians have been influenced, which could have affected who is elected to the House of Commons. some rides. And the danger will probably become even more widespread.
Justice Marie-Josée Hogue's first report on foreign interference, just before the deadline, contained a number of concerning points below its top line.
The People's Republic of China was by far the biggest threat, but there were also efforts by India and others. Although they did not taint the election as a whole, they expressed many concerns about each part.
He said the Liberal Party's rules for nominating candidates may be susceptible to interference, that the process for warning the public about foreign misinformation is too slow to act, and that there may not be enough concern about its impact. suggested that there is a sex. And CSIS is so secretive that it may not be sharing things that others need to know.
There are alarm bells about the dangers of foreign interference and concerns that those concerns may go too far and lead people to mistakenly believe that democratic institutions are rigged.
Instead, Justice Hogue's report says foreign actors, primarily China, are chipping away at parts of Canada's democracy. But those parts are important. And they add up.
“Unless strong steps are taken to detect and better combat it, it is likely to increase and harm our democracy,” Judge Hogue wrote.
That's the conclusion worth following here. Canadians – voters, candidates and voters – are feeling the real effects. Diaspora communities are scared. There is a risk that politicians will change their message out of fear of foreign governments. And this is a growing danger.
All of that is true, even if the commissioner said he could not conclude whether the results of individual equestrian races were altered by foreign interference. What Judge Hogue offered was the story of two rides that might have already happened.
One is the 2021 case of Kenny Chiu, then a member of British Columbia's parliament for Steveston-Richmond East. He faced a swirl of articles online saying he and the Conservative Party were anti-China and had foreign policy proposals. To register as an agent, Chinese-Canadian registration is required.
A Guide to Foreign Interference and Alleged Chinese Influence in Canada
A committee of five senior officials charged with deciding whether to warn the public about foreign interference decided not to say anything because it was unclear whether the Chinese government was behind it. Mr Chiu publicly denied the allegation, but Judge Hogue suggested it was not good enough.
The other is Mr Handon, who was nominated by the Liberal Party in 2019 (now an independent) and rode for Don Valley North. There were also intelligence reports suggesting that Chinese authorities may have arranged buses carrying foreign students to vote for Mr. Dong. Judge Hogue noted that it could have determined the nomination battle and who won the seat.
“Given that Don Valley North was considered a ‘safe’ seat for the Liberal Party, foreign interference, even if it affected the nomination contest, would have no effect on which party ran the election. Most likely not,” she wrote. “But it will affect who gets elected to Congress. This is important.”
As Liberal leader, Mr. Trudeau chose not to remove Mr. Dong from the party's nomination list, and the prime minister testified during his interrogation that he did not feel the inconclusive intelligence report was sufficient to overturn the nomination election.
But Hogue testified that Trudeau knew he had to pursue the allegations after the 2019 election, but noted it wasn't clear where they went. “Follow-up details are unknown at this time, and it is unclear what actions have been taken,” she wrote.
However, this is an unusual evaluation of the prime minister's actions. What the report lacks is a detailed determination of the actions of political leaders: who knew what, when, whether warnings were ignored, who knew who dropped the ball. There will likely be more in Judge Hogue's final report on the broader issue of foreign interference, due in December.
Meanwhile, she held the government accountable for acting before Canada's democracy could grow, to take steps to counter foreign interference that is already undermining parts of Canada's democracy.
