OTTAWA — Canada's spy agency knew China"clandestinely and deceptively interfered" in the past two federal votes, according to a top-secret briefing document that emerged Monday at the public inquiry into foreign interference.
The document concluded state actors are able to successfully interfere in Canada because there are"few legal or political consequences." That means foreign interference is"low-risk and high reward." "We have seen some foreign interference activities, but we have seen nothing that the rights of Canadians to have a free and fair election," said Nathalie Drouin, a member of both monitoring panels who now serves as the prime minister's national security and intelligence adviser.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and staff members are set to testify later this week and look forward to answering the commission's questions, a spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office said Monday. That's because freedom of expression is a protected Charter right and elections are a time of vigorous debate meant to sway voters.The February 2023 briefing document from CSIS notes it was difficult to assess the impact of foreign interference activities on the past two elections
The document said"at least 11 candidates and 13 staff members were implicated" in China’s foreign interference networks, including members of multiple political parties. Just because the panel didn't take the step of alerting the public doesn’t mean other agencies such as CSIS, the RCMP or Elections Canada weren't taking action, she added.
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