Electoral integrity is the cornerstone of a functional democracy. Citizens must feel confident that whether their preferred candidate won or lost, the process was at least fair and uncorrupted. If citizens lose faith in the integrity of their elections, the foundation of democracy will crumble.
People are rightly upset when stories of domestic malfeasance in elections surface, whether it’s an action so minor as a candidate not reporting small campaign contributions or as major as meddling with mail-in ballots. When these things happen, the outcome of the race is questioned and confidence in the process is undermined. The only way to repair the damage is to ensure that offenders are exposed and punished while further controls are put into place to discourage abuse of the process.
There is something much worse than having a local candidate or even a political party stretching or breaking electoral rules—something that infuriates citizens and shatters trust in the process. That something is foreign interference in elections. Nobody likes to imagine their democratic process has been manipulated by a nation with nefarious intent.
If such evidence of foreign election interference had been uncovered in the United States, it would make headlines for months and could lead to the government’s downfall. In Canada, this story is barely breaking the top 10 news items.
Trudeau’s response to the story has been focused more on plugging the leaks from CSIS rather than dealing with what the leaks exposed when he said: “It’s certainly a sign that security within CSIS needs to be reviewed. And I’m expecting CSIS to take the issue very seriously.”
By all appearances, CSIS had been trying to discreetly warn the government of the CCP electoral interference issue for years but had been ignored. It is of little wonder somebody within the organization felt compelled to take on the role of being a whistleblower and is leaking the documents to the Globe and Mail. He or she is clearly very concerned about this issue.
The legacy media double standard on display is galling. The disproven Trump/Russia collusion story still has legs with some journalists, while in Canada the very real story of CCP interference in two federal elections is already becoming yesterday’s news. News outlets should feel it’s their journalistic duty to keep this story alive, yet they appear to be more interested in covering the latest follies from Harry and Meghan.
Canadians often pride themselves on their amicable and docile nature. Right now though, citizens could really use a dose of American-style indignation and start demanding answers from both the media and political leaders on the electoral interference issue.
If we don’t have free unfettered elections, we don’t have a democracy.