China interfered in 2019, 2021 Canadian federal elections: Canadian Security Intelligence Service

Trudeau government officials testifying before the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference Monday confirmed Chinese interference in at least two Canadian federal elections and that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office was briefed on the matter.

According to top secret documents released by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the People’s Republic of China (PRC) “clandestinely and deceptively interfered in both the 2019 and 2021 general elections.”

The Prime Minister’s Office received 34 separate briefings about the election interference, beginning in 2018, the Globe and Mail reported.  

China interfered in the 2019 and 2021 elections, where “in both cases, these FI activities were pragmatic in nature and focused primarily on supporting those viewed to be either pro-PRC or neutral on issues of interest to the PRC government,” according to testimony read at the inquiry.

“They also write at least 18 candidates and 13 staff members were implicated in PRC FI networks, This includes, and this included members of multiple political parties.”

Nathalie Drouin, who was deputy minister of justice and deputy attorney general during the 2019 federal election and is Trudeau’s national security and intelligence adviser today, had little to add to the CSIS documents. 

“So if we talk about a PRC and we see that also in the public summaries that we have sent to the commission, that the approach and the tactic of [the] PRC is really to do some pragmatic work in the sense that they are doing activities when they believe it is necessary to promote their own … interest so this is the type of language we heard regarding [the] PRC, " Drouin stated.

The classified document is dated Feb. 21, 2023 and was promulgated after a whistleblower leaked information about the election interference to the media, primarily to The Globe and Mail, that explained how China had meddled in the 2021 federal election that culminated in a Liberal minority government. 

“We know that the PRC clandestinely and deceptively interfered both in the 2019 and 2021 general elections,” the document said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.