TRUDEAU GOVERNMENT MUST COME CLEAN ABOUT ELECTION INTERFERENCE

QUESTIONS REMAIN ABOUT BEIJING'S INFLUENCE, WRITES MICHAEL CHONG

MICHAEL CHONG

In late February, the Globe and Mail reported that the People's Republic of China (PRC) "employed a sophisticated strategy to disrupt Canada's democracy in the 2021 federal election," including using proxies and disinformation campaigns with the goal of getting a Liberal minority government re-elected.

Global News later broke a story on the 2019 federal election. Their reporting claimed that national security officials provided a classified briefing to senior aids from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office, warning that a Liberal candidate in the Greater Toronto Area was part of a PRC "foreign interference network."

While the overall results of both elections aren't in question, many questions remain about the negative impact Beijing's interference had in about a dozen local election races.

The prime minister has been slow to take this threat of interference seriously. He initially argued, ridiculously, that even asking about foreign interference was fomenting anti-asian racism or that it was aligning with former president Trump's questioning of election results.

It wasn't until Canadians started paying attention and raising concerns that the prime minister decided to take the issue seriously. After mounting public pressure, the government released a plan: two closed-door probes into election interference and an investigation led by a special rapporteur appointed by the prime minister. Both probes will be conductive behind closed doors and in secret.

The problem is that this approach ignores the advice of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. The intelligence agency advised the government that to counter foreign interference, the government must use "transparency and sunlight in order to highlight the point that foreign interference should be exposed to the public."

Instead, the prime minister is burying the truth under a mountain of process.

What Canadians need is a prime minister who will heed the advice of our intelligence agency, treat the threat of Beijing's foreign interference seriously, and tell the public the details about what is going on.

By going public with information, the prime minister can build resilience. To build resilience, Canadians, local communities and all levels of government need to be aware of foreign interference threat activities.

That's how the government can protect Canada and Canadians.