(Ottawa) After the Conservative Party, it’s the NDP’s turn to demand the opening of a public inquiry into China’s interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
Without questioning the election results, New Democratic Party (NDP) Leader Jagmeet Singh argues that light must be shed on the matter because of “serious allegations that individual candidates may have been affected by the election.” ‘foreign interference’.
Because “when Canadians learn of possible foreign interference through leaked documents, confidence in our democracy is jeopardized”, and “the way to end China’s alleged covert interference is to refuse to keep their secrets to themselves,” he believes.
PHOTO ADRIAN WYLD, THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh
With the idea of a public inquiry into election interference already backed by experts including former Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) chief Richard Fadden and former Chief Electoral Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley .
The Conservative Party made the same request.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will speak later Monday at a press briefing on the Ontario side. However, he has already questioned the reports published in the Globe and Mail based on information leaked by CSIS.
More information then surfaced on the airwaves of Global News regarding a particular elected official, Han Dong, whose candidacy in the 2021 elections was allegedly favored by the Chinese Communist Party. Prime Minister Trudeau’s office vehemently denied the information in this report.
China outright denies the interference allegations. The issue had also led to a spat between Justin Justin Trudeau and his counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, last November.