Federal officials never disclosed to the Conservative Party of Canada there were hundreds of complaints alleging Chinese agents interfered with the 2019 and 2021 elections. The Commission on Foreign Interference heard Tuesday then Conservative leader Erin O’Toole was not told his own party was being targeted by foreign agents, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. A confidential, six-page memo dated a month prior to the last election was called, July 2021, was opened at the China Inquiry, entitled The Foreign Interference Threat Environment 2021. The memo, prepared by a Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) team, Threats to Elections Task Force, said offshore money was “funneled to preferred candidates” deemed pro-China.“The People’s Republic of China will be the primary threat actor in an upcoming federal election,” officials wrote. “Due to tensions in the bilateral relationship and China activity directed against Canada’s Parliament and certain MPs, China may interfere in specific ridings to either support those viewed to be ‘pro-China’ or oppose those viewed to be ‘anti-China.’”Co-chair of the 2021 Conservative Party campaign Walied Soliman told the China Inquiry “any political party would have been alarmed by that statement and would have at the very least engaged further and asked a lot of questions or tried to develop some sort of strategy to at least institutionalize the monitoring of this.”“No, I do not recall that,” said Soliman.“I do not recall any briefing of this specificity on any issue.”“Is this information consistent with the nature of the information you recall receiving?” asked Commission counsel Kate McGrann.“No,” replied Soliman.“Would information of this nature have been useful to your Party?” asked McGrann. “Of course,” replied Soliman.“Why?” asked Counsel McGrann.“We would have institutionalized at least some method of monitoring what was going on,” replied Soliman. “It would have been quite helpful.”“Were you given any specific indicators you should look for?” asked Thomas Jarmyn, counsel for Erin O’Toole.“None,” replied Soliman.An earlier memo by CSIS, Threat Overview: Election 2019, called China a “top tier foreign interference threat” in future campaigns. “Covert influence on key individuals is longstanding, occurs Canada-wide and is directed toward all major political parties,” it said. “China seeks to clandestinely or deceptively support Canadian candidates, parties and policies perceived to further the Communist Party of China’s strategic interests.”“Targets of China’s threat activities are often unaware of the Chinese government’s interest in them though some targets willingly cooperate with China’s threat actors.”“China is currently consolidating its strategic approach which involves selecting preferred political candidates across federal party lines, aligning community influence groups to promote Chinese political objectives and arranging financial support to be funneled to preferred candidates. Local priorities may take precedence over national level preference.”
Federal officials never disclosed to the Conservative Party of Canada there were hundreds of complaints alleging Chinese agents interfered with the 2019 and 2021 elections. The Commission on Foreign Interference heard Tuesday then Conservative leader Erin O’Toole was not told his own party was being targeted by foreign agents, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. A confidential, six-page memo dated a month prior to the last election was called, July 2021, was opened at the China Inquiry, entitled The Foreign Interference Threat Environment 2021. The memo, prepared by a Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) team, Threats to Elections Task Force, said offshore money was “funneled to preferred candidates” deemed pro-China.“The People’s Republic of China will be the primary threat actor in an upcoming federal election,” officials wrote. “Due to tensions in the bilateral relationship and China activity directed against Canada’s Parliament and certain MPs, China may interfere in specific ridings to either support those viewed to be ‘pro-China’ or oppose those viewed to be ‘anti-China.’”Co-chair of the 2021 Conservative Party campaign Walied Soliman told the China Inquiry “any political party would have been alarmed by that statement and would have at the very least engaged further and asked a lot of questions or tried to develop some sort of strategy to at least institutionalize the monitoring of this.”“No, I do not recall that,” said Soliman.“I do not recall any briefing of this specificity on any issue.”“Is this information consistent with the nature of the information you recall receiving?” asked Commission counsel Kate McGrann.“No,” replied Soliman.“Would information of this nature have been useful to your Party?” asked McGrann. “Of course,” replied Soliman.“Why?” asked Counsel McGrann.“We would have institutionalized at least some method of monitoring what was going on,” replied Soliman. “It would have been quite helpful.”“Were you given any specific indicators you should look for?” asked Thomas Jarmyn, counsel for Erin O’Toole.“None,” replied Soliman.An earlier memo by CSIS, Threat Overview: Election 2019, called China a “top tier foreign interference threat” in future campaigns. “Covert influence on key individuals is longstanding, occurs Canada-wide and is directed toward all major political parties,” it said. “China seeks to clandestinely or deceptively support Canadian candidates, parties and policies perceived to further the Communist Party of China’s strategic interests.”“Targets of China’s threat activities are often unaware of the Chinese government’s interest in them though some targets willingly cooperate with China’s threat actors.”“China is currently consolidating its strategic approach which involves selecting preferred political candidates across federal party lines, aligning community influence groups to promote Chinese political objectives and arranging financial support to be funneled to preferred candidates. Local priorities may take precedence over national level preference.”
