Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s so-called “Panel of Five” Liberal-appointed bureaucrats explained away allowing Chinese election interference, calling it “really difficult” to crack, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. Spotting the difference between misconduct and ordinary election activities was “a very fuzzy area,” the China inquiry heard Friday. “Had we been more certain we could have maybe applied more certainty to it. Does that make sense?” said Gallit Dobner, member of a Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force.The Task Force, in a secret November 1, 2021 report, called Key Observations From General Election 44 said it was clear that China “sought to clandestinely and deceptively influence Canada’s 2021 federal election.” The report identified “online media activities aimed at discouraging Canadians from supporting the Conservative Party.”However the same Task Force in a separate October 19, 2021 report dismissed Conservative claims of interference in 13 ridings. “The Task Force cannot decisively conclude the People’s Republic of China sought to clandestinely and deceptively influence outcomes in all of the 13 ridings identified by the Conservative Party,” it said.Gib van Ert, counsel for Conservative MP Michael Chong, asked what the level of certainty was that they required. “That’s an excellent question,” replied Dobner.“How much confidence did you feel you needed?” van Ert.“It is extremely difficult to first of all identify foreign interference in the online space because there is a very fuzzy area between what is influence and what is interference,” replied Dobner.“It is really difficult to say with certainty when you are seeing foreign interference.”“That is the key issue here, ‘with certainty.’ What I am trying to ask you is, what do you mean by certainty?” said van Ert. “If this were a criminal trial, ‘with certainty’ would mean beyond a reasonable doubt. That is the highest standard we have, right? This is not a criminal trial.”“If it were a civil trial you would say, ‘Well, more likely than not. That’s the standard and we would be certain using that standard. What we mean by ‘certainty’ always depends on what standard we are adopting, and what I am trying to understand is what was the standard you were adopting?”“My team was providing our honest assessment to the best of our ability with the tools and limitations we had of what we were seeing and what our assessment was,” replied Dobner.The Conservative Party identified voting anomalies it attributed to foreign influence in 13 Liberal ridings. Four were in Metro Vancouver: Fleetwood-Port Kells (MP Ken Hardie), Richmond Centre (MP Wilson Miao), Steveston-Richmond East (MP Parm Bains) and Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam (MP Ron McKinnon).Nine Greater Toronto ridings were also named: Aurora-Oak Ridges (MP Leah Taylor Roy), Don Valley North (MP Han Dong), Markham-Stouffville (MP Helena Jaczek), Markham-Unionville (MP Paul Chiang), Mississauga-Centre (MP Omar Alghabra), Newmarket-Aurora (MP Tony Van Bynen). Richmond Hill (MP Majid Jowhari), Scarborough-Agincourt (MP Jean Yip) and Willowdale (MP Ali Ehsassi).
