BC Conservative Leader Briefed by CSIS on Foreign Interference: Report

B.C. Conservative Party Leader John Rustad speaks to members of the media during a year-end press conference at the B.C. legislature in Victoria on Dec. 6, 2023. Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has briefed Conservative Party of B.C. Leader John Rustad on the issue of foreign interference, according to a media report.

Mr. Rustad, whose party has been surging in the polls and has welcomed defectors from the Opposition party BC United party, would have received the briefing sometime in July, theBreaker.news reported July 30.

The CSIS briefing comes amid heightened awareness about meddling by the Chinese regime in Canada’s democratic processes, and ahead of B.C.’s election scheduled for October.

“I spent about an hour or so talking to them about issues. But I won’t talk any further about what we discussed,” Rustad told theBreaker.news, noting it was CSIS that reached out to him.

“They provided me with the information that they were able to provide me with,” he said.

“I’m quite concerned about foreign influence in elections, in particular in British Columbia, and not just from China.”

TheBreaker.news asked Rustad about the recent addition to his party of BC United MLA Teresa Wat, who switched allegiance on July 30, raising concerns about her ties to Chinese officials.

Wat has had extensive contact with Chinese consulate officials over the years, including during her time serving as minister of international trade and minister responsible for the Asia Pacific Strategy, as well as when she was no longer in government. These include joining a reception in June 2017 hosted by the Chinese consul general to “celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China.”

In 2016, while on vacation in China, she met with local United Front Work Department officials in Guangdong, according to the Chinese-language media VanPeople.com.  United Front is described as one of the Chinese regime’s primary foreign interference tools in a report cited by Public Safety Canada.

Wat has also associated or joined events with groups that often take pro-Beijing positions. This includes events organized by the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations, which was among those who have published newspaper ads condemning pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

In 2020, she joined representatives of the Wenzhou Association of Canada to donate masks to a nursing home in Chinatown during the pandemic. The Wenzhou Friendship Society was visited by uniformed RCMP officers last year amid investigations into secret Chinese overseas police stations.

Former BC United MLA Teresa Wat speaks during a news conference after she joined the B.C. Conservative Party, in Richmond, B.C., on July 30, 2024. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck

Rustad said he had not done “any extensive vetting” on Wat and did not comment on her attendance at events hosted by the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The Epoch Times contacted Rustad and Wat for comment but received no response.

CSIS spokesman Eric Balsam would not confirm that Rustad was briefed, but said the agency is “currently operationalizing” the newly-granted authority to share information.

“Authorizing the timely disclosure of information by CSIS to relevant stakeholders is an important addition to the Government of Canada’s toolkit to protect Canada, the Canadian public and our democratic institutions against threats to national security,” Balsam told The Epoch Times.

Provincial Requests

CSIS’s briefing of Rustad took place at a time when the federal government has been under pressure to increase its sharing of information with provinces around foreign interference.

B.C. Premier David Eby wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in mid-June telling him his province urgently needs more information from CSIS to help counter the threat. Eby told the prime minister there are credible reasons to suspect state-level interference with B.C. residents who have links with China, Iran, Ukraine, India, and Russia.

Eby asked Trudeau to move quickly in implementing the amendments to the CSIS Acts proposed in Bill C-70 which had been introduced to Parliament in May. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has also asked for her government to be briefed about important information on foreign interference.

Bill C-70 received royal assent and became law shortly after Eby sent his letter. The legislation geared toward countering foreign interference gives increased powers to CSIS, including allowing it to share more information with stakeholders outside the federal government.

Legislation

Bill C-70 was introduced three days after the Foreign Interference Commission submitted its interim report. Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue concluded that overall election results in 2019 and 2021 were not impacted by interference, but she didn’t rule out it could have played a role in local ridings.

Hogue dedicated segments of her reports to review intelligence pertaining to PRC interference in the Greater Vancouver Area, including on the targeting of former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu and sitting NDP MP Jenny Kwan.

“There is intelligence indicating that, in the Greater Vancouver Area, some PRC officials coordinated the exclusion of some political candidates, perceived as anti-China, from attending local community events related to the election,” wrote Hogue.

The Foreign Interference Commission was established after intelligence leaks in the media depicted widespread meddling by Beijing. While the commission focuses solely on federal politics, the leaks covered different levels of government, including the City of Vancouver mayoral election.

The Globe and Mail reported in March 2023 based on intelligence leaks that the Chinese consulate in Vancouver had used proxies in diaspora community groups and groomed some candidates to run in the 2022 municipal election.

Eby had met with the CSIS regional director about the issue at the time, but said CSIS told him they couldn’t share details because he was not a direct client of theirs.

Isaac Teo and Andrew Chen contributed to this report.