Trudeau Addresses ‘Inaccuracies’ Comment Regarding CSIS Leaks on Beijing Interference

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau listens to a question during a news conference in Ottawa on Feb. 17, 2023. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked on Feb. 24 to clarify his previous comment that recent CSIS leaks on Beijing foreign interference contain “inaccuracies,” he used information from months ago to do so.

“First of all, I think Canadians understand how important it is that we continue to do all the necessary work with our national security institutions to keep Canadians safe to keep our institutions safe,” Trudeau said during a press conference in Toronto dedicated to the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

He added that his government has been “very clear” that countries like China and Russia attempt to destabilize democracies and electoral processes.

“I will highlight, for example, around inaccuracies, that when the National Security and Intelligence Advisor appeared at committee a number of weeks or months ago, she highlighted the inaccuracies that were contained in some of these media leaks,” Trudeau said.

The prime minister had said on Feb. 23 the federal government is concerned about the leaks and particularly about unspecified “inaccuracies in those leaks.”

When National Security and Intelligence Advisor Jody Thomas testified before the House of Commons defence committee on Dec. 8, it was in relation to a November report from Global News. The report alleged that the prime minister had been briefed that at least 11 federal candidates had received funding from Beijing during the 2019 federal election.

“The news stories that you have read about interference are just that: news stories,” Thomas told the committee. “We’ve not seen money going to 11 candidates, period.”

But when asked if she was suggesting that the allegations were false, she said no.

“I’m saying I do not know,” she said. “There is a blurring of what’s been reported to the prime minister and what’s been reported in the press, and so I’m trying to differentiate them.”

“I have not been briefed and have no awareness, and I’ve asked the question of 11 candidates and the connection to the money that was in that report. I know nothing of that. I have seen no evidence of it.”

The information from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service recently reported on by the Globe & Mail went beyond what was covered by Global.

It explains the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) preference for a Liberal minority government and captures a Chinese official boasting of helping defeat two Conservative candidates in the 2021 federal election.

Trudeau was also asked during the press conference whether he would launch a public inquiry into CCP interference in past elections.

Jean-Pierre Kingsley, the former chief electoral officer from 1990 to 2017, told the Globe on Feb. 23 that he believes there should be an inquiry.

“The reason why this is important is that the legitimacy of government is what is at stake,” he said.

The prime minister didn’t say whether he would launch an inquiry and instead said his government has put in place measures to help ensure the integrity of elections.

“We have continually given new resources and new tools, including a panel and a task force that we set up way back in 2019, to ensure that our election integrity held that our national security experts are able to do the work that Canadians expect them to do,” he said.

Trudeau was referring to the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force, which according to the Globe never issued any public warning on foreign interference for the 2019 and 2021 elections.

There were also no confidential warnings issued in 2021 according to Walied Soliman, the Conservative Party’s representative to SITE.

“I can confirm that after extensive security clearances and multiple meetings with our security establishment in Ottawa, these specific threats to our democracy were *never* raised, despite what is now clear evidence of tampering by China in the 2019 election,” he wrote on Twitter on Feb. 17.

Peter Wilson and Andrew Chen contributed to this report.