Did China interfere in Canadian elections?
Canada's parliament has called on the government to investigate allegations of Chinese interference in the latest general election
A key committee in Canada's parliament approved a motion late last week calling on the government to investigate allegations of foreign interference in the country's general election.
The motion specifically mentioned the recent testimony of David Vigneault, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), which is Canada's primary domestic intelligence agency.
Vigneault told the House Affairs and Procedure Committee that there were no major efforts by foreign powers to interfere in Canadian elections in 2019 and 2021. As a result, the integrity of election processes and results was not been compromised, he explained. However, the CSIS director added that an investigation had been launched into allegations that China carried out influence operations to meddle in these elections.
CHINA'S CAMPAIGN OF INTERFERENCE IN CANADA
Vigneault was referring to a series of media reports over the past year, which alleged that China used its embassy in Ottawa, as well as its network of consulates across China, to wage a campaign of interference in Canadian political life such as electoral campaigns in particular. Much of these allegations come from the opposition Conservative Party of Canada. Some senior conservative officials have explained their electoral defeat by the Liberal Party as a result of Chinese interference.
All five Liberal Party lawmakers in the House Affairs and Procedure committee voted against the motion to launch a broad public inquiry into alleged Chinese election interference. But they were outnumbered by six opposition lawmakers, who combined to vote on the motion. The vote is not binding.
THE PRESSURES ON TRUDEAU
However, as a Reuters news agency report notes, the commission's vote puts pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government. Trudeau acknowledged that China has tried to interfere in the Canadian general election but insisted that the election results were not affected by these efforts.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/canada-interferenze-cina/ on Fri, 10 Mar 2023 06:51:46 +0000.