EDITORIAL: Shedding light on foreign interference

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Damning testimony from the Foreign Intervention Commission raises serious questions about what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's “special rapporteur” David Johnston did in an earlier investigation.

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Last week, a panel investigating foreign interference in Canada's election heard that China had transferred $250,000 to “dangerous actors” ahead of the 2019 election.

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The country's spy agency, CSIS, said in a report released as part of the hearings that in 2018 or 2019, “a group of known and suspected People's Republic of China-related threat actors in Canada, including PRC officials, worked on the loose. Coordinate with each other to covertly advance PRC interests through Canada's democratic institutions.”

The report estimated that some of these “dangerous actors” received financial support from China and that 11 political candidates and 13 political officials were affiliated with or influenced by the group.

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A 2023 briefing note shows how such interference occurred.

“We know that the PRC has secretly and fraudulently interfered in the 2019 and 2021 general elections,” the statement said.

“In both cases, these actions were dramatic in nature and aimed primarily at supporting those perceived to be pro-PRC or 'neutral' on issues of concern to the PRC government.”

Former Conservative leader Erin O'Toole has said she believes foreign interference in the 2021 election could cost the party up to nine seats. He said he wouldn't change the outcome of the election, but if he did better, he could hang on to his party's leadership. Instead, he was kicked out after a disappointing result.

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Trudeau and the Liberals are trying to paint concerns about foreign interference as conservative sour grapes. In his testimony, Trudeau rejected CSIS briefings, saying the agency and other bureaucrats did not understand the reality of political campaigns.

Trudeau's handpicked reporter for the job, Johnston, said there was “limited information” that PRC funds reached any candidate.

He said more needed to be done about foreign interference, but suggested an official investigation was not the way forward, suggesting it was information that could not be made public.

It's good that the critics persisted. Sunlight is a great cleanser. We finally have a clearer picture of the extent of foreign intervention.

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