Party Nomination Contests Have a Foreign Interference ‘Vulnerability,’ Says Public Safety Minister

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc speaks to reporters in the foyer of the House of Commons May 6, 2024, announcing newly proposed legislation aimed at countering foreign interference in Canada. (The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby)

After the Foreign Interference Commission raised concerns about irregularities at a Liberal Party nomination contest, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said nomination contests indeed pose a “vulnerability.”

Mr. LeBlanc made the comment on May 3 shortly after the commission presented its interim report.

In examining the Liberal Party nomination contest in Don Valley North in 2019, with intelligence pointing to meddling by Beijing, Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue noted that “this incident makes clear the extent to which nomination contests can be gateways for foreign states who wish to interfere in our democratic process.”

When asked by reporters about that finding, Mr. LeBlanc said he has “full confidence in the Liberal Party and the rules in place regarding nomination contests.”

“I understand the commission could provide us further suggestions in this regard in a final report, but I know the Liberal Party is always reviewing the way the rules are applied and how to reinforce them,” he said in French.

He added that it’s not only his party that should be concerned about threats to an open nomination contest.

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When pressed by reporters, the minister said “we also recognize it’s a vulnerability for people who want to interfere, for malicious foreign states who want to interfere.”

The Epoch Times contacted the Liberal Party for comment but didn’t hear back by publication time.

Current party rules allow individuals 14 and older who reside in the riding to vote in nomination contests, which means in the case of ridings where Liberals have a stronghold, non-Canadians can have a say on who eventually gets elected to the House of Commons. Liberal Party members only need to “ordinarily live in Canada.”

In comparison, the Conservative Party also allows those 14 and older to become members to vote for nominees, but only citizens or permanent residents can join.

National director of the Liberal Party Azam Ishmael defended the membership rules while testifying at the foreign interference inquiry April 2.

Asked by a counsel for Tory MP Michael Chong whether an individual who has no intention of remaining in Canada can still become a member, Mr. Ishmael said the party doesn’t make an assumption that someone would sign up and then leave.

“We make the assumption that we want to have an inclusive process that welcomes new people into the fold,” he said. “That’s why 14 years are allowed to vote. That’s why, you know, we have open rules, open and inclusive rules.”

Nomination Contest ‘Irregularities’

The rules have come under closer scrutiny with regard to the party’s 2019 nomination contest in Don Valley North (DVN) won by Liberal candidate Han Dong.

Commissioner Hogue, after reviewing unredacted documents and hearing multiple witnesses, wrote in her report that “Canada has intelligence holdings indicating irregularities in the DVN nomination contest that may have included activities undertaken by individuals close to PRC [People’s Republic of China] officials.”

Among the allegations is that individuals associated with a known proxy agent of Beijing provided false identification documents to international Chinese students living outside the riding so they could vote for Mr. Dong. Other intelligence also suggests the students were pressured to vote for Mr. Dong by the Chinese consulate in Toronto.

Mr. Dong ended up winning the closely disputed nomination contest, and was subsequently elected to the House of Commons in DVN, which is a Liberal stronghold. In his testimony to the commission, Mr. Dong denied being aware of irregularities, but belatedly admitted to the inquiry he knew international students had been bused in to his nomination contest.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was made aware of the intelligence but decided to keep Mr. Dong as the Liberal candidate for the 2019 general election. He told the commission that removing Mr. Dong would have direct electoral consequences for his party, which was expected to win the DVN riding.

Mr. Dong left the Liberal Party in March 2023 after a report from Global News citing intelligence sources alleged that he had advised the Chinese consulate to keep Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in jail in China so the Conservative opposition would not benefit. The two were being detained in relation to the U.S. extradition request and house arrest in Canada of Huawei executive Meng Wangzhou.

Mr. Dong, who now sits as an Independent, has denied this allegation and sued Global for defamation. An intelligence summary of his intercepted conversation with the Chinese consul general in Toronto, which appears to be related to what Global News reported on, was disclosed to the inquiry. It says that Mr. Dong “expressed the view that even if the PRC released the ‘Two Michaels’ at that moment, opposition parties would view the PRC’s action as an affirmation of the effectiveness of a hardline Canadian approach to the PRC.”

Mr. Dong has not returned multiple requests for comment from The Epoch Times.

Commissioner Hogue said in her report it’s not her mandate to determine what actually took place in the 2019 DVN contest won by Mr. Dong. She said, however, that based on the evidence she’s heard, mostly concerning the Liberal Party, “the eligibility criteria for voting in nomination contests do not seem very stringent, and the control measures in place do not seem very robust.”

Ms. Hogue added that the issue of nomination contests and their “potential vulnerability” to foreign tampering will “undoubtedly” need to be closely looked at as the commission works on the second phase of its mandate.

The first phase entailed looking at foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections, whereas the second phase will look at information flow within government and to the public, and how the government responds to the threat.

“The Commission will also examine the rules, or lack of rules, governing nomination contests,” says the interim report.

Following the tabling of the report on May 3, the Liberal government introduced a new bill to tackle foreign interference on a number of levels.

Bill C-70, titled “An Act respecting countering foreign interference,” proposes the creation of a foreign influence registry, to modernize the CSIS Act to allow the agency to obtain publicly available datasets, and to create new sets of foreign interference-related offences.

Liberal ministers have remained non-committal about changing party nomination rules, however.

Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos told reporters on May 7 nomination contests are “very transparent.”

“The norms are severe and are applied severely,” he said in French. “It will be up to my colleagues to validate if they want to go further.”