Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirms he was aware of allegations of Chinese interference in the nomination race of Liberal candidate Han Dong in the Toronto riding of Don Valley North in 2019 – but did not judge necessary to remove it from the race.
Mr. Trudeau appeared Wednesday afternoon before the commission on foreign interference. Since last fall, Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue has been looking into allegations of foreign interference in the last two federal elections.
Last year, Global News reported that Han Dong allegedly received help from China in the 2019 general election to get elected in his Toronto riding.
Mr. Dong left the Liberal caucus last year following the allegations.
In his testimony, Mr. Trudeau said he was informed of the allegations by Liberal national campaign director Jeremy Broadhurst during a Sunday during the 2019 federal campaign.
“He met me at the airport to let me know he had received concerns from CSIS [Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité] on the race for the nomination in Don Valley North,” said Mr. Trudeau.
Intelligence told Mr. Broadhurst that Chinese officials in Canada were “developing plans” to interfere in Mr. Dong’s nomination race by mobilizing busloads of foreign students. This information was transmitted to Mr. Trudeau during a conversation lasting around thirty minutes.
Insufficient information
However, the “existence” of a bus was not enough to cause alarm, judged the Prime Minister. CSIS also did not provide a recommendation to the Prime Minister to this effect, and this information had to remain confidential, said the main person concerned.
“The decision to fire someone required a high threshold. As leader of the Liberal Party, I have done this many times. I already had to ask people to withdraw their candidacy during the last elections,” he certifies.
“But in this case, I did not feel that there was sufficient information or credible enough information to justify this very important step of removing a candidate. »
Also testifying on Wednesday, Defense Minister Bill Blair claimed to have been informed after the election of irregularities in Mr. Dong’s nomination race as Minister of Public Safety at the time. However, he said in a classified interview with the commission that he “wasn’t concerned.”
On Tuesday, Jeremy Broadhurst claimed to have followed up with the party authorities involved in Mr. Dong’s investiture meeting. They had not noticed anything unusual, he said.
During his appearance before the commission on April 2, Han Dong confirmed that he met with foreign students from China and encouraged them to register as members of the Liberal Party during his 2019 nomination race. However, he denied knowing that the students used falsified documents to vote in the nomination race.
“As the MP for a riding that has a high proportion of Chinese-Canadian residents, this is part of my duties. I consider it part of my duties to speak with foreign diplomats — in this case, from the People’s Republic of China,” he also declared before the commission.
Briefing notes
During his questioning, Mr. Trudeau denied having reacted to information that would have been found in the briefing notes that he has received regularly since his first years in power.
The Prime Minister was first interviewed by the commission’s lawyer on February 27, 2024. The interview took place in a secure environment and referred to classified information.
A summary of this interview released Wednesday reveals that the Prime Minister was never aware of a memo prepared by CSIS Director David Vigneault in 2019 which provided an update on the threat reduction measures implemented. place to combat foreign interference.
Prime Minister Trudeau claimed not to have seen this document since it was addressed to a minister, and not to him.
“Any prime minister gets a lot of briefings, not just on national security issues. […] I am constantly receiving a lot of information from different departments across the government,” he said in defense.
The only way to ensure he has seen information is to meet him in person, he added.
Justin Trudeau’s appearance ends two weeks of public hearings during which around forty people testified, including members of various diaspora communities, representatives of political parties and federal election officials.
Several members of Mr. Trudeau’s inner circle, such as his chief of staff, Katie Telford, ministers Dominic LeBlanc and Bill Blair as well as the government leader in the House of Commons, Karina Gould, also testified before the commission.
Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue must now submit her preliminary report no later than May 3.
The commission will resume this fall to look at broader policy issues, examining the federal government’s ability to detect, deter and counter foreign interference. A final report is expected by December 31, 2024.