The author is a former conservative strategist. He was a political adviser in the Harper government as well as in the opposition.
When members of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), out of duty, even out of obligation, decide to go beyond the usual rules by disseminating classified information — and what is more at a high security level — in order to confide in journalists is that the time is serious.
The fact that these people decide to step out of line so that confidential information collected, processed and compiled by their organization that highlights a system of interference by China in our democratic process reaches the ears of the public is a decision that is of utmost importance.
In a way, it’s the last resort. This only happens after every possible avenue has been tried through the chain of command and after all the information has been presented to the political decision makers. Faced with a wall of silence, and likely multiple attempts to downplay the situation or sweep the information under the rug by shelving their reports, these folks have taken it upon themselves to bring it to the public.
One can imagine that the disclosure of such sensitive information to the media can only be the result of a frustration that has grown over long months of waiting, these people having probably not detected the slightest real intention to attack the problem on the part of the government of Justin Trudeau.
The release of this kind of information usually comes out of exasperation, that of not being taken seriously, although the information about China’s political interference — which is not new, it is worth remembering — are reinforced, repeated and confirmed, until they become a major operation where all possible techniques and resources are used, almost simultaneously, with a real and tangible risk to the security of Canada.
Ultimately, what is sought above all by a whistleblower who turns to the media is that things change and do not happen again. Because, for these people, there will be consequences. A witch hunt has certainly been underway within the walls of the SRCS since last Friday morning, to unearth the informant or informants behind the transmission of confidential information. Mr. Trudeau himself made no secret of it: he did not appreciate this leak at all, seeing in it “certainly a sign that security at the level of CSIS must be reviewed, I expect that the CSIS takes this issue very seriously.”
China’s interference
We would like him to take the information revealed by CSIS with the same seriousness. We are talking here about an “orchestrated operational machine” by China on Canadian soil according to a “sophisticated strategy to disrupt democracy in Canada”, wrote the Globe&Mail Friday morning. A real media bomb, so powerful that it covered almost the entire front page of the newspaper. No other news was the weight, indeed, against this one.
China’s objective was precise and unequivocal; influence the outcome of the 2021 federal election to help keep a minority government of Justin Trudeau in power, and ensure the defeat of conservative candidates perceived as hostile to Beijing.
THE Globe&Mail quotes the CSIS, which repeats comments attributable to Chinese diplomats that the Conservative government could “jeopardize future education [des] children [chinois] “. In their campaign of smear and disinformation targeted at home, CSIS continues, they note that the Liberal Party of Canada thus becomes “the only party that the People’s Republic of China can support”, nothing less.
On Sunday, the Chinese Consulate General in Vancouver called the article “defamatory and discrediting” China. In a statement, he said that China has never interfered in any way in Canada’s elections or internal affairs, and that such articles could harm the country’s relations with Canada.
The Global media had previously reported on China’s alleged interference in the 2019 federal election, including through the mention of a memo it had heard about, but without quoting it directly, because he had not had access to the documents. THE Globe&Mailhe consulted CSIS documentation and meticulously recounts the techniques used for the 2021 federal election.
The information obtained details a multi-pronged strategy used by China, on Canadian soil: funding of candidates, misinformation, pressure on the Canadian community of Chinese origin and false volunteers put at the service of campaigns.
What is serious is the apparent laissez-faire attitude of the Trudeau government in this whole affair. In politics, the rule is that when information is brought to your attention–and the CSIS memo proves that it was–you expect action from the government, in a reasonable time. What has the Trudeau government done to counter this threat? Very little, in my opinion, but also in the opinion of the members of CSIS, who have resigned themselves to disclosing elements supporting this interference in the democratic process of our country.
The Trudeau government’s inaction, laxity and negligence were also noted by former Canadian ambassador to China Guy Saint-Jacques and by former CSIS director and national security adviser to Prime Minister Richard Fadden, which demands an immediate halt to China’s unacceptable actions.
Shouldn’t we also hold the Trudeau government to account? The latter, after all, jeopardizes, by its voluntary or simply indecisive inaction, our most fundamental institution, the democratic electoral process.
Prime Minister Trudeau is lucky. This news fell on a Friday, a day not conducive to this kind of revelation. It competed with the tabling of the Rouleau Commission report, on the eve of a two-week parliamentary break in Ottawa. The government will therefore not be able to be questioned in the House of Commons in the coming days. Justin Trudeau gets away with it, as always.