Morris Rosenberg, former CEO of the Trudeau Foundation, yesterday in a federal report said there was “no evidence to indicate foreign state actors were specifically targeting Elections Canada or Canadian electoral systems and networks” in the 2021 campaign. Conservative MPs have questioned Rosenberg’s impartiality, according to Blacklock's Reporter..“The credibility of the plan to protect Canadian democracy depends on public confidence in the government’s ability to effectively address the full range of these threats well beyond incidents which occur during election campaigns,” Rosenberg wrote in his cabinet-commissioned report. “Public confidence depends on clear articulation of the problem and the approach to addressing it.”.Rosenberg is a former Liberal-appointed deputy justice minister. He served as CEO of the Trudeau Foundation from 2014 to 2018..Rosenberg’s report said election monitors were aware Chinese-language commentaries critical of the Conservative Party were published by outlets like the Global Times, Commercial News and WeChat, but concluded they “did not observe any significant indicators of foreign state-sponsored information manipulation in monitoring of the broader Canadian digital information ecosystem.”.The House affairs committee is currently investigating allegations Chinese Communist Party operatives interfered in the campaign of ex-Conservative MP Kenny Chiu (Steveston-Richmond East, BC) and assisted Liberal MP Han Dong (Don Valley North, ON)..“There were concerns raised by some that some foreign states have supported potential candidates for Parliament who will promote the interests of the foreign state,” wrote Rosenberg. “They may receive assistance from agents of the foreign state to sign up party members to help the preferred candidate win a party’s nomination.” He did not elaborate..The Conservative Party said it will now call Rosenberg for committee questioning. “Conservatives will be calling for Mr. Rosenberg to be brought in front of the House affairs committee to provide answers on this attempt by the Liberals to paper over serious threats to our democracy,” the Party said in a statement..“During his time as head of the Trudeau Foundation, Rosenberg was involved in facilitating a controversial $200,000 donation from influential Chinese Communist Party official Bin Zhang,” the Party added. .Cabinet in 2019 appointed a task force to monitor foreign election interference by “malicious actors.” The panel was comprised of the RCMP, Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Department of Foreign Affairs and Clerk of the Privy Council. No incidents were ever publicly reported..“Our work is really never done,” Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc told reporters in 2021. “Malicious actors who use technology to threaten democracies are always adapting and so must we.”
