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NDP MP Jenny Kwan, who CSIS said has been targeted by Beijing, said Ottawa must do more to protect Chinese-Canadians from intimidation and disinformation practices during election campaigns.
Ms. Kwan said she hopes Justice Hogue will recommend that election monitoring be removed from the hands of senior civil servants who answer to the prime minister.
“The report noted there is an systemic failure of communications by the government to those who are targeted or impacted by foreign-interference actors,” she said. “I strongly believe what we need is one independent agency to be mandated as the lead to take on this work.”
She also said Justice Hogue needs to hold Mr. Trudeau and his top aides to account in the final report on how his government handled CSIS intelligence that warned about China state interference and disinformation efforts.
OTTAWA – Chinese international students may have received “veiled threats” from the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) consulate and been provided with falsified documents to allow them to vote for Liberal candidate Han Dong’s nomination ahead of the 2019 election, according to a new report.
That’s one example of riding-level foreign interference that “tainted” the 2019 and 2021 federal elections but ultimately did not affect the overall results or the integrity of Canada’s electoral system, according to a first report by the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference published Friday.
The Liberals undoubtedly won the last two elections, Hogue said, and the country’s voting system has been strong and secure.
But the commissioner had “no difficulty” concluding that there was foreign interference in certain ridings that likely impacted at least one nomination race and potentially undermined certain candidates viewed unfavourably by the Chinese government.
“Although the election result at a national level was not impacted, and only a few races were potentially impacted at a riding level, I nevertheless conclude that foreign interference impacted the overall election ecosystem in 2019 and 2021,” Hogue wrote.
The Liberals undoubtedly won the last two elections, Hogue said, and the country’s voting system has been strong and secure.
But the commissioner had “no difficulty” concluding that there was foreign interference in certain ridings that likely impacted at least one nomination race and potentially undermined certain candidates viewed unfavourably by the Chinese government.
“Although the election result at a national level was not impacted, and only a few races were potentially impacted at a riding level, I nevertheless conclude that foreign interference impacted the overall election ecosystem in 2019 and 2021,” Hogue wrote.
NDP MP Jenny Kwan, who has been a target of foreign interference, said the government should bring this legislation to help diaspora groups and politicians like herself.
“It is time, in fact, it is long overdue. What we do know is that the government said they will do it and they said, in fact, last year that they would introduce this legislation,” she said.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc told reporters Tuesday there are many things that need to be addressed, including a foreign agent registry, CSIS reform and the ongoing work of the foreign interference commission.
He said legislation to create the registry would be coming soon.
“This is part of our ongoing effort to strengthen legislation with respect to foreign interference,” he said.
The coalition’s call for a foreign agent registry came on the same day as former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu testified about misinformation that he believed played a role in his defeat in 2021.
