Government-Appointed Panel Says Foreign Interference Didn’t Impact 2021 Election Integrity
A panel of senior federal employees examining foreign meddling in Canadian elections has concluded that the integrity of the 2021 federal election wasn’t impacted by foreign interference.
In a Feb. 28 news release, the minister for Democratic Institutions said the panel “did not detect foreign interference that threatened Canada’s ability to have a free and fair election” in 2021.
The report, written by former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Morris Rosenberg, said there were attempts at foreign interference, but they were not sufficient enough to have “met the threshold of impacting electoral integrity,” and also did not meet the “high threshold” to notify the public.
The report said some activities of interference by China were not restricted just to election campaigns, or restricted in scope to try and influence election outcomes. The report also said social media was a large, but not exclusive, source of the problem, and from 2015 to 2021 any interference was mainly attributed to Russia, China, and Iran.
At the time measures to protect elections were introduced in 2019, the report noted the concerns were then related to “large scale foreign interference along the lines of Russian actions in the 2016 U.S. election.” The panel said it “did not find that there was interference of that magnitude in Canada either in 2019 or 2021.”
The Critical Election Incident Public Protocol (CEIPP) panel concluded that the current protocol to ensure election integrity “worked well and should be maintained with some suggested improvements.”
One of the 16 recommendations was for the national security agencies to begin a program of “unclassified briefings to increase the awareness of MPs and Senators on foreign interference and on election interference and on measures they can take.”
Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) concerns about foreign interference by the Chinese Communist Party were mentioned in the report as well.
“CSIS expressed concerns that China notably tried to target elected officials to promote their national interests and encouraged individuals to act as proxies on their behalf,” the report said.
The report comes amid recent reports based on CSIS leaks that China heavily interfered in the 2019 and 2021 elections, including allegations that money was funneled to candidates through illegal, undeclared cash donations.
Members of opposition parties as well as former security officials have called for an independent inquiry into foreign meddling in Canada’s recent elections to examine the extent of the issue.
Tories’ Concern
The Conservatives issued a statement on Feb. 27 questioning the appointment of Rosenberg to head the panel, noting that he was CEO of the Trudeau Foundation in 2016, when wealthy Chinese businessman Zhang Bin donated $200,000 to the organization.
Zhang, who has ties to the Chinese communist regime, was at a Liberal Party cash-for-access fundraiser in 2016 with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. According to reports in the Globe and Mail on Feb. 28, a national security source said Zhang had been instructed by a Chinese diplomat to make the donation, and Beijing would reimburse him for the amount.
Neither Rosenberg nor the Prime Minister’s Office replied to Epoch Times requests for comment.
Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen, parliamentary secretary for the leader of the government in the House of Commons, said on Twitter that Poilievre is “playing a very dangerous game here.”
“To take partisan cheap shots at a dedicated public servant is truly irresponsible,” Gerretsen said on Feb. 27. “Morris Rosenberg has faithfully served Canadian [sic] for many years, including under Conservative governments.”
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
