Trudeau Doesn’t Answer When Asked Whether He Knew Before 2019 Election Beijing Was Funding Candidates

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stands alongside National Defence Minister Anita Anand in Toronto on Feb. 24, 2023. Chris Young/The Canadian Press

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked on March 8 to comment on the latest report on national security leaks suggesting he was aware before the 2019 election that the Chinese regime was funding federal candidates.

In a media scrum on Parliament Hill, reporters questioned Trudeau about what he knew, when he knew it, and what he did about it.

The prime minister didn’t directly answer, and instead explained why he will appoint a special rapporteur to look into the issue of foreign interference as announced on March 6.

“The process around this remains something that we have to make sure is looked at by parliamentarians and by experts who have proper security clearances,” he said, adding that his government has always taken the issue seriously.

“And to be quite honest, I know that no matter what I say Canadians continue to have questions about what we did and what we didn’t.”

Earlier that day, Global News published an article reportedly based on an unredacted 2019 report from the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP).

The NSICOP review says “foreign states clandestinely direct contributions to” Canadian politicians, according to Global.

The report given to the prime minister in August 2019 provides examples of foreign interference drawn from Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) information.

“Examples that illustrate foreign interference activities directed at elected officials and their staff include the following: [redacted],” says the public version of the report.

Global revealed some of the unredacted examples that spanned from 2015 to 2018.

“A [People’s Republic of China] Embassy interlocutor founded a group of community leaders called the ‘tea party’ to hand-pick candidates that it would support and ultimately publicly endorse,” said the article, quoting the report.

A “former PRC Commercial Consul informed PRC businesses of the rules regarding Canadian political contributions and ‘urged particular business leaders to donate through Canadian subsidiaries and acquisitions.’”

Global also reported on March 8 that a “Special Report” on interference by the Chinese Communist Party was published by the Privy Council Office (PCO) in January 2022, based on 100 CSIS intelligence reports. The PCO is tasked with advising the prime minister and other ministers.

Trudeau has resisted calls for a public inquiry into Beijing’s actions following a steady stream of national security leaks on the matter to Global News and the Globe and Mail.

Along with announcing he would appoint a rapporteur, Trudeau said he would task the NSICOP and the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency to conduct a review of election interference in the past two contests.

Given that these bodies work in a classified setting, the public will only be provided with generalities about the outcome.