China’s Election Interference | The opposition united behind the idea of ​​a public inquiry

(Ottawa) Justin Trudeau is increasingly isolated: after the Bloc and the New Democrats, the Conservatives are now calling for a public inquiry into Chinese interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Despite the pressure, the Prime Minister still resist.

Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre has formally called for a public, independent inquiry to be opened, subject to certain conditions, including that the person leading the inquiry be chosen by House leaders from all parties.

He also hopes that the studies initiated in committee will continue in parallel. “We cannot close parliamentary inquiries with the promise that in two years there will be a report,” the leader ruled before a meeting of the Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Wednesday.

During the first hour of the committee meeting in question, elected officials had the opportunity to question several senior government officials, including the Prime Minister’s national security adviser, Jody Thomas.

She pointed out that a public inquiry has its limits. “We cannot discuss national security information in a public forum,” she said, arguing that the ideal setting for an investigation is the closed-door National Security Committee of Parliamentarians. and intelligence.

At the same time, on the other side of the country, the Prime Minister echoed the remarks of his collaborator at the Privy Council Office, declaring that this was not the avenue he was advocating and that the government was setting up a register of foreign agents in Canada.

That was the aim of a private member’s bill introduced by former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu, which was defeated in the 2021 election amid misinformation allegedly orchestrated by China.

In committee, the elected officials wanted to know more about his case, and about the allegations of Chinese interference published in the Globe and Mail and Global News, based on Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) sources.

Their interlocutors refused.

“I will not discuss documents obtained inappropriately”, decided Jody Thomas.

No RCMP investigation

One of the latest revelations concerns a series of donations totaling $1 million to Canadian institutions, including $200,000 allegedly given to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation by a wealthy Chinese businessman close to the regime, Zhang Bin, against a promise to be reimbursed by Beijing, according to the Globe and Mail.

If the information turns out to be true, it could be a criminal offence. Has the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) opened an investigation into this file, or any other relating to events related to the 2021 campaign?

“I can confirm that the RCMP is not investigating any allegation regarding the last ballot,” replied Liberal MP Ryan Turnbull, Deputy Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Shawn Tupper.

Moreover, security intelligence, even if it comes from solid agencies like CSIS, would not necessarily be admissible in court, added Jody Thomas. “There is a big step to take for the intelligence to be considered as evidence,” she explained.

Communication frustration

In a government report on election interference that was made public on Tuesday, it is noted that although there was an attempt to disrupt the democratic process, the population was not informed, since these actions did not reach “the criteria by which the integrity of the election was compromised”.

Conservative MP Luc Berthold suggested the threshold may be too high and there may be too much opacity. “All the information you hold, that you collect, cannot be made public,” he told Alia Tayyeb of the Communications Security Establishment.

“It’s true, and I understand it’s a frustrating process,” she replied.

During the meeting, New Democrat Peter Julian and Bloc Québécois Christine Normandin presented motions with different wordings, but whose objective is to launch a national public inquiry. They are to be debated this Thursday, when the committee meets for the second time in two days.