Ottawa: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday that he would appoint an independent special investigator to look into claims of Chinese interference in the 2016 election. He also announced the launch of two new independent investigations into the matter.
Recently, detailed reports alleging Chinese election interference in 2021 and 2019 have been published in the Canadian media citing unnamed intelligence sources.
Trudeau has come under fire since those media reports surfaced, and a recent poll showed a majority of Canadians wanted him to act tougher in response to China's alleged interference in the election.
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At a press conference, Prime Minister Trudeau announced that he would name an independent special relationship with a broad mandate to provide informed advice to thwart interference and strengthen our democracy.
According to Trudeau, the reporters would be "reputable Canadians" and would have the authority to hold public inquiries and recommend other measures regarding foreign interference.
The prime minister said he requested that an investigation be launched into alleged foreign election interference by members of Parliament's National Security Committee.
China denies all allegations of interference and claims it has no intention of interfering in Canada's internal affairs.
The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Members of Parliament (NSICOP), Canada's intelligence oversight body, will look into the matter and inform the legislature of its findings.
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The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA), another oversight body, will be tasked by Trudeau with reviewing how Canada's national security agencies responded to the threat of foreign interference.
The Prime Minister said that together, these actions will help us understand what happened during the recent elections, how foreign governments attempted to interfere, how Canadian security agencies responded to the threat of interference, and how the government How information is shared within
Although Trudeau and top Canadian security officials have acknowledged Chinese efforts to interfere, they say the election results were unchanged. The media reports have not been confirmed by him.
China preferred a Liberal Party victory in 2021 to a Conservative Party victory in 2021, The Globe and Mail reported last month.
While the Conservatives are known to take a more hardline stance against Beijing, the Liberal government is seen as open to doing business with China despite feuding with Chinese President Xi Jinping on a number of issues.
Strained diplomatic relations between Canada and China have become more complicated as a result of allegations of covert Chinese plans to interfere in Canadian affairs.
The arrest of a Huawei Technologies executive by Canadian police in late 2018 and the subsequent detention of two Canadians by Beijing on espionage charges escalated tensions between the two countries. All three were released in 2021.
On Monday morning, Canadian police announced they were investigating a possible breach of information security laws related to media reports citing secret intelligence.
Canadian Deputy Minister of Public Safety Sean Tupper told a parliamentary committee last week that any allegations of Chinese influence by Canadian police were not being looked into.
According to the statement given by the police on Monday, it is only probing the information leak. Canada's spy agency is also probing how the classified information reached the news outlets.