Conservative, Bloc, and NDP MPs are requesting an emergency House of Commons meeting to get answers over reports that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had “actively worked to influence” Canada’s federal election in 2019.
The campaign includes “covert funding to influence election outcomes,” the report said, noting that at least 11 federal candidates, whose party affiliations weren’t revealed, received funding from the regime in the 2019 federal election.
The report said that based on the information from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the funding was allegedly funnelled through intermediaries to candidates affiliated with the CCP. Other alleged activities include placing agents into MPs’ offices to influence policy, seeking to co-opt and corrupt former Canadian officials, and launching aggressive campaigns against Canadian politicians whom the regime views as threats to its agenda.
The letter, addressed to the chair of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC), was co-signed by Bloc Quebecois MP Marie-Hélène Gaudreau and NDP MP Rachel Blaney, together with Tory MPs including Cooper, John Nater, Luc Berhold, and Blaine Calkins.
The signatories request that a meeting be held by PROC as soon as possible to “determine how the Committee should respond to this troubling revelation.”
‘Trudeau Needs to Explain Why’
The request for the emergency meeting was first announced by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre during a press conference in Vancouver earlier on Nov. 9. He said Trudeau “has failed to protect our democracy.”“I think it’s very troubling that the prime minister has known about allegations of foreign interference in Canadian elections since … January, and he hasn’t taken any action,” Poilievre said.
“I think Justin Trudeau needs to explain why he knew and why he did nothing.”
In response to the Global News’ report, Trudeau said foreign state actors have been playing “aggressive games” with democracies.
“State actors from around the world, whether it’s China or others, are continuing to play aggressive games with our institutions, with our democracies,” the prime minister said on Nov. 7 during a press conference in Laval, Quebec.
‘We Need to Do More’
The letter to the chair of PROC said otherwise.“[F]ormer CSIS agents have criticized the government’s failure to take serious action to address or prosecute this foreign state interference in our democratic process,” said the MPs, who are also members of PROC.
“China … is more interested in working within the system to corrupt it, compromising officials, and elected officials, and individuals at all levels of government, within industry, within civil society, so using our open and free society for their nefarious purposes.”
“For the past two elections, we had a committee that was working on these very issues and also we strengthened our processes, but I think we need to do more,” Joly said after making an announcement on Canada’s upcoming new Indo-Pacific Strategy at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy in Toronto, Ontario, on Nov. 9.
Joly also said the federal government “won’t let any foreign actor meddle in our democracy.”
“We need to make sure that we tackle foreign interference at home, but I would say also particularly in the digital sphere.”
