Trudeau expressed displeasure over intelligence leaks: request

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OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has voiced his displeasure over the sensationalization of intelligence leaked to the media into a federal investigation into foreign interference.

In a confidential interview with the commission of inquiry in February, Trudeau said it would seriously undermine Canadians' confidence in the democratic process.

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A public summary of the interview was released at the inquiry, where Trudeau testified in public hearings on Wednesday.

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The summary said Trudeau found the leak “particularly frustrating” because the Liberal government had put in place robust mechanisms to identify and deal with obstruction, but it was “characterized by media indifference.”

“Prime Minister Trudeau also believed that the leaks highlight the dangers of jumping to conclusions based on a single piece of information without sufficient context and analysis of its credibility.”

Allegations of foreign meddling in the last two general elections – suggestions stemming from anonymous leaks to the media – have led to a chorus of calls for a public inquiry.

During Wednesday's hearing, Trudeau rattled off a list of measures his government has taken since taking office in 2015 to end foreign interference.

Trudeau's appearance followed days of testimony from members of his cabinet, political party officials, senior bureaucrats and intelligence officials.

Under the protocol adopted by the Liberals, there would be a public announcement if a panel of bureaucrats determined that an event or series of events threatened Canada's ability to hold free and fair elections.

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There has been no such announcement for the 2019 or 2021 general elections. In both ballots, the Liberals were returned to government with a minority of seats, while the Conservatives formed the official opposition.

The inquiry heard that China and other state actors had tried to intervene, but there was little evidence to suggest they had succeeded.

The former Democratic Institutions minister said he was told by a Canadian spy agency after the October 2019 federal election that he saw low-level foreign interference by China.

Karina Gould, who held the portfolio from early 2017 to November 2019, said in an undercover interview last month that the actions were similar to what Canada's security intelligence service had seen before.

“Foreign interference has not affected the ability of Canadians to hold free and fair elections,” says a public summary of Gould's interview.

Gould, now leader of the government's House of Commons, is on maternity leave.

As Minister of Democratic Institutions, he oversaw the design of the Electoral Interference Disclosure Protocol.

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On Wednesday, he told the poll, “the threshold has to be higher for Canadians to be aware that a foreign actor has interfered in our election.”

Before any public announcement by the board, “they have to make sure it's something valuable enough in the national interest to make it public,” he said.

Gould said the process was designed to allow for national intervention or public disclosure of “something that's happening in just one riding.”

“It might as well be,” he said. “There is not one national election in Canada, we have 338 individual elections that make up the electoral story. So it all depends on the context.”

Dominique LeBlanc succeeded Gould as head of cabinet in charge of democratic institutions after the Liberals returned to power in 2019.

He was asked to consider how the measures implemented by him have resulted in practice.

In that role, LeBlanc rarely received classified intelligence, but he said Wednesday that the Office of the Privy Council, which works with national security agencies, had given him a “pretty accurate” understanding of the “threat landscape.”

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“I was confident that I had all the information I needed,” he told the inquiry.

In his opinion, Gould's plan has worked.

Gould has named Han Dong as the Liberal candidate in the 2019 Toronto riding of Don Valley North. He told the commission that it was beyond his remit as Minister of Democratic Institutions.

Dong resigned from the Liberal House last year after allegations in the media that he willingly participated in Chinese meddling and won his seat in 2019 with Beijing's help – claims he denies.

Bill Blair was told of the post-election irregularities as public safety minister at the time, but Blair told the commission in a confidential interview that he was “not concerned”.

During Wednesday's public hearing, Blair said security officials had no additional information to confirm. “They showed me at the time that there was no other corroborating evidence to back it up.”

Blair, now defense secretary, also said the CSIS survey did not show Dong was unaware of the wrongdoing. He trusted the spy agency to take appropriate action, he said.

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