Russian interference in Canadian election likely: NATO official

OTTAWA — A NATO researcher says Canada should assume Russia will attempt to interfere in the 2019 federal election because that would serve the Kremlin’s purpose of helping destabilize the military alliance.

The allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election as well as its attempts to disrupt votes in Germany, France, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, among other countries, makes Canada a natural target, Janis Sarts, director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, said in an interview.

Russia is attracted to Canada because destabilizing it would “undermine the cohesion” of the broader NATO alliance. Moreover, it could serve to undermine Canadian policy in Europe, he said.

It would also allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to project strength inside his country by showing that “other countries are afraid of Russia,” said Sarts, who testified last year at the U.S. Senate intelligence committee about Russian interference.

“The moment somebody can question the integrity of the elections and the election result, democracy is in trouble,” Sarts said.

The federal government has tasked Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould with shoring up the electoral system against foreign meddling.

“We are closely following how our allies are addressing these challenges in their countries to see what solutions may be right for Canada,” said Gould’s spokeswoman, Jordan Owens.

The government wants social media companies to “address issues related to foreign interference in elections,” she said.

“They have taken some initial positive first steps, but more needs to be done.”

Relations between Canada and Russia are at a low ebb with the Canadian Forces commanding a NATO battle group in Latvia, part of the alliance’s anti-Moscow deterrent in Eastern Europe following the Kremlin’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, and the ongoing turmoil in eastern Ukraine.

Russia has threatened unspecified retaliation against Canada for its passage of anti-corruption legislation named in honour of the Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky.