Mendicino Calls Foreign Interference ‘Serious Threat’ But Downplays Impact

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino gestures toward a reporter as he waits to appear before the Special Committee on Canada-People's Republic of China Relationship on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Feb. 6, 2023. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has defended his government’s actions in dealing with the issue of Chinese interference in Canada’s elections regarding recent revelations in media reports.

“We had been saying for years that foreign interference represents a serious threat to our institutions, including our elections, and that is why we have put in place a number of tools that will assist our intelligence community and other agencies that operate within the public safety apparatus,” Mendicino said Feb. 28 while making a funding announcement in Halifax.

Mendicino had been asked whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was sending a dismissive message to security agencies with his latest comments on the issue.

A reporter suggested that intelligence sources are leaking details to the media about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) interference in Canadian elections because the Liberal government is perceived as not taking action.

Trudeau on Feb. 27 linked the concerns surrounding Liberal MP Han Dong to “anti-Asian racism.”

He also said that “it is not up to unelected security officials to dictate to political parties who can or cannot run.”

Global News reported on Feb. 24 that in 2019 Dong was a “witting affiliate in China’s election interference networks” and that the Liberal Party had been warned but chose to keep Dong as a candidate.

Dong has called the claims “inaccurate and irresponsible.”

Mendicino said non-partisan panels made up of public servants have determined that the 2019 and 2021 elections were free and fair.

But he skirted around the question when asked whether individual ridings have been affected by foreign interference and why this information is not revealed to the public.

“We’re going to continue to be up front and transparent with Canadians when it comes to the threats that are posed to our democratic institutions,” said Mendicino.

On Feb. 28, the government released a report assessing the work from the Critical Election Incident Public Protocol (CEIPP) in the 2021 federal election.

The CEIPP was established in 2019 as a mechanism to communicate with Canadians in the event of incidents jeopardizing the integrity of elections.

The report, written by former senior public servant Morris Rosenberg, says the body did not find there was foreign interference of great magnitude in 2019 or 2021 that met the threshold for an announcement.

This was despite noting there were “efforts at foreign interference.”

Rosenberg said “several elements” of the protocol “worked well,” while also making a number of recommendations.

“There were numerous comments on the need for an early announcement to communicate clearly to Canadians and to the media about the nature of the threat, the integrated plan put in place to address it, and the role of the Protocol and the Panel as one element of that plan,” he said about improving communications.

The Conservative Party has raised questions about Rosenberg’s impartiality since he previously served as the CEO of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.

“During his time as the head of the Trudeau Foundation, Rosenberg was involved in facilitating a controversial $200k donation from influential CCP official Bin Zhang, who was also intimately involved in Trudeau’s 2016 billionaire cash-for-access scandal,” the party wrote in a statement.

The Conservatives said they would be calling Rosenberg to testify before the Commons procedure and House affairs committee currently studying foreign interference.