Public inquiry into foreign meddling in Canada's elections drops its first report today

Canadians could get a clearer sense today of the extent to which China and other countries meddled in the past two federal elec‐ tions - and whether the government and security agencies did enough to share that information when the public inquiry on foreign interference re‐ leases its first report.

The inquiry was triggered by media reports last year which, citing unnamed secu‐ rity sources and classified documents, accused China of interfering in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Some of the reports also suggested members of the Liberal gov‐ ernment were aware of cer‐ tain attempts at interference and didn't act.

Over 10 days of hearings in March and April, Commis‐ sioner Marie-Josée Hogue heard hours of sometimes contradictory testimony about the breadth of foreign interference by countries like China, Russia and India in the past two elections and whether information was shared with the right people at the right times.

Hogue and her staff also have heard classified testi‐ mony behind closed doors to help them reach their conclu‐ sions.

Testimony and documen‐ ts tabled at the inquiry have made it clear that foreign states have meddled in Cana‐ dian elections in the past.

The Canadian Security In‐ telligence Service (CSIS), Canada's spy agency, has said it believes the Chinese government "clandestinely and deceptively" interfered in both the 2019 and 2021 fed‐ eral elections, according to a 2023 document made public at the inquiry.

That briefing note says China's interference was "pragmatic in nature and fo‐ cused primarily in supporting those viewed to be either 'pro [People's Republic of China]' or 'neutral' on issues of interest to the PRC govern‐ ment."

Other CSIS documents tabled at the inquiry showed the governments of India and Pakistan also attempted to interfere in Canada's federal elections in 2019 and 2021. In 2021, the government of India had "intent to interfere and likely conducted clandes‐ tine activities," including through the use of an Indian government proxy agent in Canada, according to an un‐ classified summary from CSIS.

Both before and during the hearings, CSIS Director

David Vigneault has said he doesn't believe those efforts threatened the integrity of the election.

But other testimony sug‐ gested those attempts did have ripple effects.

Former Conservative leader Erin O'Toole testified that he believes his party lost five to nine seats because of a foreign misinformation campaign aimed at Conserv‐ ative candidates in B.C. and Ontario, and at his party more generally.

O'Toole also told the com‐ mission he believes foreign interference may have con‐ tributed to his removal as party leader. In a document containing notes from an in‐ terview between O'Toole and inquiry lawyers, O'Toole is quoted as saying he was sus‐ picious about the motives of the person behind the peti‐ tion that called for a leader‐ ship review following the 2021 election.

Han Dong matter hashed out

One of the specific claims that was examined during the inquiry centred on al‐ leged irregularities during the 2019 Don Valley North nomination contest. A media story reported that security officials told senior officials in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) that then Liberal can‐ didate Han Dong "was part of a Chinese foreign interfer‐ ence network" and that the party should "rescind Dong's candidacy."

The inquiry has seen intel‐ ligence summaries sug‐ gesting CSIS warned that in‐ ternational students were bused in to take part in the nomination vote, were given fake documents to allow them to vote for Han Dong who went on to win the Lib‐ eral nomination - and were told by Chinese officials that if they didn't participate, their student visas would be in jeopardy and there could be consequences for their fami‐ lies back in China.

Dong left the Liberal cau‐ cus last year after Global News published a report al‐ leging he advised a senior Chinese diplomat in February 2021 that Beijing should hold off on releasing two detained Canadians. He has denied al‐ legations he's been used as a witting tool of the PRC.

He did, however, tell the inquiry he recently remem‐ bered that he solicited sup‐ port from high-school stu‐ dents with Chinese citizen‐ ship for his nomination in the Don Valley North riding con‐ test.

Prime

Minister

Justin

Trudeau said he was briefed about concerns that CSIS had about Dong's nomination contest. He said the evidence wasn't sufficient to remove Dong as a candidate.

"I didn't feel there was sufficient or sufficiently credi‐ ble information that would justify this very significant step as to remove a candi‐ date," Trudeau testified be‐ fore the inquiry.

The prime minister also said that due to national se‐ curity concerns, his govern‐ ment was "limited on what we could actually rebut, re‐ gardless of the fact that there were inconsistencies, uncor‐ roborated information in the leaks."

WATCH | CSIS chief stands by spy agency's work after PM casts doubt on its reliability

"Why these leaks were of such deep concern was that we couldn't actually correct the record without … sharing with adversaries some of the information or the methods that we use to keep Canadi‐ ans safe," he said.

During the public hear‐ ings, Hogue also heard criti‐ cism levelled at one of the measures the federal govern‐ ment put in place to ward off the types of threats that tain‐ ted the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the Brexit vote.

Nicknamed the "panel of five," the team of top bureau‐ crats was tasked in 2019 and 2021 with monitoring foreign interference and issuing pub‐ lic warnings if they felt there was a threat to the integrity of the vote. No such warning was ever issued.

O'Toole suggested the panel should have issued public notices to voters warn‐ ing them to be wary of infor‐ mation that they were ob‐ taining from social media.

Johnston report said in‐ formation flow needs to improve

The Liberals initially resisted calls from opposition parties for a public inquiry following the leak-based media stories. Its first move was to appoint former governor general David Johnston as special rapporteur on foreign inter‐ ference to assess whether the Liberal government ig‐ nored threats or advice from national security agencies.

Johnston said he didn't find evidence that Trudeau or his ministers knowingly ig‐ nored intelligence but con‐ cluded there needs to be a better flow of information between them. His May 2023 report disputed several Global News and Globe and Mail reports after reviewing associated intelligence in a broader context.

A few weeks after that re‐ port was released, Johnston who had been accused of being unfit for the job be‐ cause of his personal connec‐ tions to Trudeau - stepped down, saying his role had be‐ come too tainted by political controversy for him to con‐ tinue.

Friday's report is one of two reports Hogue is re‐ quired to deliver.

In September, the com‐ mission is expected to hold another round of hearings focused on Canada's capacity to detect and deter foreign interference.

A final report is due at the end of the year.