If one thing from the public inquiry into foreign interference is clear, it’s that China attempted to meddle in the 2019 and 2021 elections.
But the evidence is hazy on whether or not it succeeded. Here’s what we learned over the past 10 days of fact-finding hearings, which ended Friday and included testimony from politicians, bureaucrats and representatives from several intelligence and security agencies …
OTTAWA – CSIS director David Vigneault told an inquiry Friday that he’s been warning the Liberal government for years that Canada has been slow to respond to foreign interference and is ill-equipped to combat it.
He also confirmed that had not verbally discussed the contents of three important briefing documents directly with the prime minister and his senior staff, although he had shared similar information with them on previous occassions.
I get the feeling that Trudeau and Vigneault are scamming us.
The head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service appeared before the foreign interference inquiry Friday to defend his agency’s work, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested he sometimes doubts the reliability of CSIS reports.
‘”There’s been a lot of comments made about the intelligence in the media and in commission,” CSIS Director David Vigneault told the inquiry Friday morning.
“Intelligence is a little like a puzzle. Sometimes we have a very clear picture of the puzzle. Sometimes, through the use of raw intelligence and assessed intelligence, we are building that picture, but what is important to remember is that this is done by professional, trained intelligence analysts and professionals that are bringing this together.
There are two peculiar and paradoxical things about the disturbing revelations that have emerged over the past few days from Justice Marie-Josée Hogue’s public inquiry into foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
The first is that the most disturbing evidence entered into the record isn’t even really news. Pretty well all the bombshell revelations coming out of Justice Hogue’s commission hearings have been the subject of headline stories, one after the other, over the past five years.
The plausible explanation is that the prime minister does not want a light shone on his party’s mutually beneficial association with China
The crux of the foreign interference inquiry is to discover whether Justin Trudeau danced with the devil in the pale moonlight.
In other words, did the prime minister put partisan interest ahead of the national interest by turning a blind eye — or worse, encouraging — China’s meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections to benefit the Liberal party’s electoral fortunes.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accepted the advice of his campaign manager in the 2019 election that no action should be taken against Liberal Han Dong despite concerns raised by Canada’s spy service about possible China-directed interference activities, the public inquiry into foreign meddling heard Tuesday.
The Foreign Interference Commission has heard testimony that CSIS provided a classified briefing in Sept. 28, 2019, to Liberal Party officials, who received national-security clearances, about alleged irregularities in the Don Valley North nomination that Mr. Dong won.
No surprise Trudeau works for China.
A top-secret Canadian Security Intelligence Service briefing prepared for the Prime Minister’s Office in February last year said Beijing had “clandestinely and deceptively interfered in both the 2019 and 2021 general elections.”
The classified document, dated Feb. 21, 2023, was drafted in response to media stories, including one in The Globe and Mail, that outlined a sophisticated campaign by China and its proxies to interfere in the 2021 election. The document was made public on Monday, when it was tabled at the Commission of Inquiry into Foreign Interference.
I can’t help but notice that few bother to comment on posts about the Liberal Party’s corrupt relationship with the PRC.
Personally I am resigned to the fact that nothing will change regardless of the commission’s findings which I suspect is the reason for the lack of interest from readers.
Our political class looks after their own.
No one will be charged, no one will go to jail and no one will lose their job.
Leaving Canada is becoming a serious consideration.
A top secret CSIS briefing prepared for the Prime Minister’s Office in February 2023 last year, following leaks to the media about Chinese meddling, said Beijing “clandestinely and deceptively interfered in both the 2019 and 2021 general elections.”
The classified document, dated Feb. 21, 2023, was tabled at the Commission of Inquiry into Foreign Interference in response to media stories including one in The Globe and Mail that outlined a sophisticated campaign by People’s Republic of China (PRC) and its proxies to interfere in the 2021 election.
The slowly emerging proportions of the interference by the People’s Republic of China in Canadian elections does not justify concern that illicit interference materially changed the result of the two general elections in 2019 and 2021 in which China is alleged to have intervened on behalf of a number of Liberal and Conservative candidates.
A Canadian intelligence official says while Beijing’s attempts at foreign interference may not have had a decisive impact on Canada’s 2021 election outcome in a specific riding, such covert activities can still leave the elected candidate feeling indebted to the communist regime.
At a closed-door hearing, the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference received a summary of interviews with intelligence officials that said, “even if FI [foreign interference] did not directly lead to the election of a given candidate, that interference could nonetheless have an impact on the relationship with that candidate, and by extension the communities they represent.”
While the foreign interference inquiry headed by Commissioner Marie-Josee Hogue appears to be doing credible work in investigating foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, it isn’t addressing the elephant in the room.
New intelligence documents published by the federal foreign interference inquiry raise questions about the conclusions of former Governor General David Johnston’s probe into the issue.
Johnston, whom Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed a special rapporteur on foreign interference, ruled out calling a public inquiry last May.
Had Johnston’s recommendation been accepted, a trove of national security documents released this week by the Foreign Interference Commission would have never seen the light of day.
Not at all unreasonable to suspect Junior is working for China.
Foreign Interference Commission hears 2019 CSIS assessment that a “politically-connected Canadian” impacted the fed election was “recalled”
After the 2019 federal election CSIS director David Vigneault decided to “recall” a controversial intelligence assessment saying a “politically-connected Canadian” had impacted Canada’s 2019 vote in Liberal MP Han Dong’s Toronto riding, Ottawa’s Foreign Interference Commission heard Thursday.
Explosive documents tabled while Vigneault was examined on his decision said the October 2019 CSIS assessment regarding suspected PRC interference in Dong’s campaign was shared with senior government officials including Trudeau’s then National Security Advisor.
A document presented to the Foreign Interference Commission says Canadian intelligence suggests Chinese officials may have transferred around $250,000 to “threat actors” in Canada in late 2018 or early 2019.
On Thursday, the commission discussed an unclassified summary of intelligence held by security and intelligence departments and agencies – primarily the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
