Canada’s spy agency saw low-level Chinese meddling activities in 2019 election, Gould says ahead of Trudeau testimony

April 10, 2024 Canuck

OTTAWA –

The former minister of democratic institutions says she was told after the October 2019 federal election that Canada’s spy agency had seen low-level foreign interference activities by China.

Karina Gould, who held the portfolio from early 2017 to November 2019, said in a classified interview last month that the activities were similar to what had been seen in the past and did not compromise the election.

A public summary of Gould’s interview was disclosed Wednesday at a federal inquiry into foreign meddling in the 2019 and 2021 elections, where she testified in an open session.

Gould, now government House leader in the Commons, is on parental leave.

As democratic institutions minister, she oversaw the design of a process to protect Canada’s general elections from foreign meddling.

Under a federal protocol, national security officials would inform a special panel of five senior bureaucrats of an interference attempt during an election period.

There would be a public announcement if the panel determined that an incident — or an accumulation of incidents — threatened Canada’s ability to have a free and fair election.

There was no such announcement concerning either the 2019 or 2021 elections. In both ballots, the Liberals were returned to government with minority mandates while the Conservatives formed the official Opposition.

Allegations of foreign interference in these elections — suggestions fuelled by anonymous leaks to the media — led to a chorus of calls for a public inquiry.

The inquiry has already heard that China and other state actors attempted to interfere, but there has been little evidence so far to indicate whether they were successful.

Gould told the inquiry Wednesday that if Canadians are to be informed “that a foreign actor has interfered in our election, the threshold needs to be high.”

Before any public announcement from the panel, “they need to be certain that this is something of significant enough value” to the national interest that it be made public, she said.

Gould said the process was designed to allow for a public announcement due to meddling at a national level or “something that’s happening in one, singular riding.”

“It could be either,” she said. “Canada doesn’t have one national election, we have 338 individual elections that make up an electoral event. And so everything is context-specific.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has maintained that foreign interference had no meaningful impact on Canada’s free and fair elections, echoing what senior government officials have told Parliament.

Trudeau is slated to testify at the inquiry later today.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 10, 2024.

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