Cabinet yesterday said it did not know the names of 11 federal candidates allegedly targeted by Chinese Communist agents in the 2019 election. The House affairs committee to date has been unable to uncover any new evidence regarding claims of campaign meddling, according to Blacklock's Reporter..“Of course we take very seriously this story,” testified Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly. “But at the same time, I am giving you under oath the information I have, which is I don’t have any form of information.”.Global News in a November 7 report quoted anonymous sources indicating federal authorities documented allegations of a “vast campaign of foreign interference” by Chinese Communist agents including illegal spending and clandestine work targeting 11 candidates in the 2019 campaign. Neither the candidates nor constituencies were named..“Could you just explain what the rationale is for not releasing the names of individuals targeted by foreign interference?” asked New Democrat MP Rachel Blaney (North Island-Powell River, B.C.). “We don’t have information about these eleven candidates,” replied Joly..“Were the candidates aware they were targeted?” asked Blaney. “I don’t have this supposed list of 11 candidates,” replied Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc. “I have seen that in media. In my discussion with security officials, people didn’t produce lists of these names.”.“If a candidate of a particular party was targeted specifically – I know you can’t give details – what was the process for letting the party know?” asked MP Blaney. “Your question has a hypothetical aspect to it,” replied Allen Sutherland, assistant secretary to cabinet..Blaney said the allegations “created a great deal of distrust” among federal voters. “We are hearing clearly what the ministers don’t know and what the department doesn’t know, but what I don’t understand is what you do know,” said Blaney..Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault in November 23 testimony at the House affairs committee said he saw no evidence Chinese Communist agents interfered with local candidates. Perrault acknowledged he didn’t look. “There may be offences that are committed that we find out after the fact,” he said..Former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu (Steveston-Richmond East, B.C.) alleged foreign operatives worked against his campaign. Chiu served one term in Parliament and lost re-election to Liberal candidate Parm Bains by 3,477 votes..Marcus Kolga, director of DisinfoWatch, an Ottawa advocacy group, testified November 3 that Communist Party agents worked to unseat Conservative MPs. “In the weeks before the September 20, 2021 election we were alerted to Chinese state media narratives that directly targeted the Conservative Party and its leader Erin O’Toole,” testified Kolga..“Simultaneously, members of the Chinese-Canadian community brought to our attention similar narratives appearing on local Canadian Chinese-language media platforms and a Chinese local media channel WeChat,” said Kolga. “WeChat is commonly regarded as the tool used by the Chinese government for surveillance and repression.”.“On September 9, 2021 the Chinese Communist Party-owned tabloid Global Times published an article attacking the Conservative Party foreign policy platform,” said Kolga. “The Global Times article threatened Canadians that if they elected a Conservative government Canadians should expect ‘a strong counterstrike and Canada will be the one to suffer.’ At the same time an anonymous article was posted to WeChat targeting an incumbent MP Kenny Chiu.”
