Report: BC Conservative Leader Receives Briefing from CSIS on Foreign Interference
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has briefed Conservative Party of B.C. Leader John Rustad on the issue of foreign interference, as reported by the media.
Mr. Rustad, whose party has been gaining traction in the polls and has received defectors from competing party BC United, was briefed sometime in July, according to a report by theBreaker.news reported July 30.
The briefing by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) occurred ahead of the October provincial election and amidst growing concerns about Beijing’s involvement in democratic processes.
“I spent about an hour or so talking to them about issues. But I won’t talk any further about what we discussed,” Rustad told theBreaker.news, noting that CSIS initiated the conversation. “They provided me with the information that they were able to provide me with.”
“I’m quite concerned about foreign influence in elections, particularly in British Columbia, and not just from China,” Rustad expressed.
TheBreaker.news inquired with Rustad about the recent addition of BC United MLA Teresa Wat to his party, who switched allegiance on July 30, prompting concerns about her connections to Chinese officials.
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Wat has had extensive contacts with Chinese consulate officials over the years, including during her time serving as minister of international trade and minister responsible for the Asia Pacific Strategy, as well as when she was no longer in government. These include joining a reception in June 2017 hosted by the Chinese consul general to “celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China.”
In 2016, while on vacation in China, she met with local United Front Work Department officials in Guangdong, as reported by the Chinese-language media VanPeople.com. United Front is identified as one of the primary foreign interference tools of the Chinese regime in a report referenced by Public Safety Canada on its website.
She has also been associated with or attended events organized by groups that often support pro-Beijing stances. This includes events set up by the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations, which was among those that placed newspaper ads condemning pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong.
In 2020, she joined members of the Wenzhou Association of Canada to donate masks to a nursing home in Chinatown amidst the pandemic. The Wenzhou Friendship Society was visited by uniformed RCMP officers last year during investigations into clandestine Chinese overseas police stations.
Rustad mentioned that he had not extensively vetted Wat and refrained from commenting on her participation in events hosted by the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
The Epoch Times reached out to Rustad and Wat for comments, but received no response.
CSIS spokesman Eric Balsam declined to confirm Rustad’s briefing but stated that the agency is currently implementing the newly granted authority to share information.
“Authorizing the timely disclosure of information by CSIS to relevant stakeholders is an important addition to the Government of Canada’s toolkit to protect Canada, the Canadian public and our democratic institutions against threats to national security,” Balsam told The Epoch Times.
Provincial Requests
The briefing of Rustad by CSIS took place at a time when the federal government faced pressure to enhance information sharing with provinces regarding foreign interference.
B.C. Premier David Eby wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in mid-June, expressing the urgent need for more information from CSIS to counter the threat in his province. Eby informed the prime minister about credible concerns of state-level interference with B.C. residents connected to China, Iran, Ukraine, India, and Russia.
Eby urged Trudeau to swiftly implement the amendments to the CSIS Acts proposed in Bill C-70, which had been introduced to Parliament in May. Earlier, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith had also requested to be briefed by her government on significant information related to foreign interference.
Bill C-70 received royal assent shortly after Eby sent his letter and became law. The legislation aimed at countering foreign interference grants expanded powers to CSIS, including the ability to share more information with stakeholders beyond the federal government.
Legislation
Bill C-70 was introduced three days after the submission of the interim report by the Foreign Interference Commission. Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue concluded that while overall election results in 2019 and 2021 were not influenced by interference, it could have played a role in local ridings.
Hogue focused on reviewing intelligence on PRC interference in the Greater Vancouver Area, including the targeting of former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu and sitting NDP MP Jenny Kwan.
“There is intelligence indicating that, in the Greater Vancouver Area, some PRC officials coordinated the exclusion of some political candidates, considered anti-China, from attending local community events related to the election,” Hogue stated.
The Foreign Interference Commission was established following intelligence leaks in the media illustrating significant meddling by Beijing. Although the commission concentrates on federal politics, the leaks encompassed various levels of government, including the 2022 City of Vancouver mayoral election.
The Globe and Mail reported in March 2023, based on intelligence leaks, that the Chinese consulate in Vancouver used proxies in diaspora community groups and trained some candidates to run in the 2022 municipal election.
Eby had met with the CSIS regional director regarding this matter at the time, but CSIS informed him that they couldn’t share details since he was not a direct client of theirs.
Isaac Teo contributed to this report.
