A whole bus full of Chinese high school kids were forced to vote for a Liberal candidate. A cash inflow of several thousand dollars from China that is not clear. as an agent of India’s government, giving illegal money to politicians who back India.
During the two weeks of testimony in Canada’s ongoing public review into foreign interference in its elections, these and other claims came up. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said he is “looking forward” to answering questions when he goes to court on Wednesday.
Officials say that the charges made so far should be taken with a grain of salt. They came from Canada’s spy agency in a set of redacted documents given to the investigation. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) warned that the reports might have information that hasn’t been checked and is either from a single source or isn’t complete. This information hasn’t been properly examined.
China and India have repeatedly denied that they are involved in claims that they have meddled in Canada’s affairs. India recently said that the claims were “baseless.” But some lawmakers have said that interference may have hurt their chances of getting elected.
And the stories of people from Canada’s many diaspora groups shed light on claims that agents working for governments in their home countries were threatening their safety. People who were touched by the alleged meddling say that the government and CSIS are not doing enough to stop it or are not telling them about it at all.
The government of Canada’s own spy service has said that the country is not doing enough to solve the problem and is behind its “Five Eyes” intelligence allies, which are the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Mr. Trudeau was pushed to start the investigation after leaked information in the Canadian media made claims of foreign interference. His Liberal Party won the last two federal elections, in 2019 and 2021.
When reporters asked him about the alleged meddling last week, he avoided answering. Instead, he said the matter was “extremely important” and that he was looking forward to speaking on Wednesday.