The Privy Council Office says a report from the panel tasked with reporting incidents of foreign interference in the 2021 federal election is now complete and has been sent to the Prime Minister’s Office and the National Security Committee of Parliamentarians and intelligence.
The Major Election Incident Public Protocol was created to monitor and report threats during the 2019 and 2021 elections. It is required to publish a post-election assessment of its work.
The 2019 assessment took place about seven months after the campaign was held, but the 2021 report is still not available more than a year after Canadians went to the polls.
The Privy Council’s announcement is the first news we have about it. The Privy Council Office says a public, unclassified version of the report is being finalized and will be available soon, but gave no specific timeline.
The Bureau said Morris Rosenberg, a former senior civil servant, was chosen in the summer of 2022 to prepare the independent report.
“Mr. Rosenberg’s comprehensive assessment is based on multiple sources, including interviews with a wide variety of actors, as well as review of government documents and publications from foreign governments and non-governmental organizations” , said a statement from the Privy Council.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose government is facing pressure over the issue of election interference by foreign actors, said last week he looked forward to seeing the report once it is completed.
The CCP wants to question Telford
The Conservative Party of Canada has renewed calls for Trudeau’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, to testify before a House of Commons committee investigating election interference.
Global News reported Friday evening that Liberal MP Han Dong was allegedly aided by the Chinese consulate as he ran for the Liberal nomination in the Toronto-area riding of Don Valley North in the 2019 election. .
Global News alleged that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service urged senior Liberal Party officials to rescind his nomination, but that Justin Trudeau still endorsed his candidacy. Dong was then re-elected in 2021.
Following the report, the Conservatives reiterated their request for Ms Telford to testify at an upcoming committee meeting.
Conservative MP Michael Cooper released a statement saying the Canadian Prime Minister and his government “couldn’t hide anymore”.
“It would be more than outrageous if the prime minister of our country were made aware that one of his liberal candidates had been compromised by the Chinese Communist Party and flatly refused to do the right thing,” he said. It is crucial for confidence in our democracy to reveal what Justin Trudeau and his government knew and when.”
An evaluation report of the Public Protocol on Critical Election Incidents said in 2019 that its use was successful and ready to alert Canadians to foreign interference if necessary.
However, the panel members, who were required to work with national security agencies under their departments’ mandates, made no announcements regarding Chinese interference in the 2019 or 2021 elections.