Johnston calls media reports ‘misconstrued’
Leaks didn’t reveal full picture of what Ottawa knew, he says
Media reports of examples of Chinese state interference into Canada’s elections are based on “limited and partial intelligence” and do not reveal a complete and complicated picture of what Ottawa knew, said David Johnston, the Liberal government’s outside adviser on foreign elections meddling.
“Only upon seeing the full picture, with the benefit of all relevant intelligence, can one conclude that much of the reported intelligence has been misconstrued in media reports,” Johnston said Tuesday as he released his interim report.
Johnston’s report closely examined news stories published by Global News and the Globe and Mail over the past six months, and disputed one by one several of the contentions.
Those stories, based on anonymous security sources and classified documents, set off political bombs that blew holes in repeated assertions by the Trudeau government they were alive to and active in countering foreign interference in the last two elections.
Johnston referred to Global News reporting in February that a memo was sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2017 “alleging that Chinese agents were ‘assisting Canadian candidates running for political offices.’ ” Johnston said the memo cited by Global was a draft, and while Trudeau did get a briefing in 2017, it did not contain that specific information.
Global also reported there was evidence of a “network” of candidates who received $250,000 from Beijing.
Johnston said there is “limited intelligence” China intended for funds to be sent to “seven Liberal and four Conservative federal candidates through a community organization, political staff and (possibly unwittingly) a Progressive Conservative party of Ontario MPP.”
But it’s not clear if there actually was money, if it was ever sent anywhere and “there is no intelligence suggesting any federal candidates received these funds.”
He also said there is no “basis to conclude” the 11 were working in concert or understood they were targets of proxy agents.
Global News has previously stood by its reporting, saying in March that “Global News is governed by a rigorous set of journalistic principles and practices and we are very mindful of the public interest and legal responsibility of this important accountability reporting.”
The Globe and Mail reported there was a Chinese state “machine” at work in the 2021 election to keep the Trudeau Liberals in a minority government situation.
Johnston said there was an “unconfirmed” indication that a “very small number” of PRC diplomats expressed a preference for the LPC to the CPC in the 2021 election. But, he wrote, “There was no indication that the PRC had a plan to orches- trate a Liberal minority govern- ment in 2021 or were ‘determined’ that the Conservatives not win.”
The Globe reported CSIS docu- ments noting Chinese diplomats encouraged people to give money to the state’s preferred candidates, and then the money was refunded to the donors.
Johnston said while CSIS is aware of allegations that this happens, they have no intelligence that it is.
Asked to respond to Johnston’s comments, David Walmsley, edi- tor-in-chief of the Globe and Mail, said in a statement to the Star: “The reporting was based on written in- telligence assessments and intelli- gence briefs. We stand by the sto- ries.”
The Star has also reached out to Global for its response to John- ston’s report.
Meanwhile, Conservatives have argued that Chinese state interfer- ence cost them seats in 2021.
They have pointed to social media campaigns slamming their leader at the time, Erin O’Toole, and local candidates for their tough stances on China, especially Kenny Chiu in B.C.
“It is clear that PRC diplomats did not like Mr. Chiu,” Johnston wrote, pointing to the former MPs’ call for a foreign agents registry.
“It is much less clear that they did anything in particular about it.”