Appointment of ‘Heads of Government’ in Canada Vulnerable to Foreign Interference: MP Chong

Conservative MP for Wellington-Halton Hills Michael Chong appears as a witness at the Public Inquiry Into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions in Ottawa on April 3, 2024. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

Loose party membership and nomination criteria leave Canada vulnerable to foreign interference, potentially leading to foreign actors influencing appointed prime ministers and government heads, Conservative MP Michael Chong said.

“We are effectively opening up the appointment of heads of government in this country, including prime ministers and premiers, to this foreign interference,” Mr. Chong testified during the public inquiry into foreign interference on April 3.

The public inquiry is probing China’s alleged interference in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 elections. However, Mr. Chong’s concerns extend beyond general elections, noting that lax membership criteria in major parties like the Conservatives and Liberals make local party nominations “ripe for foreign interference.”

Mr. Chong’s concerns revolve around the minimal membership fees required by both parties.

In 2016, the Liberal Party changed its constitution to replace the concept of “membership” with “registration,” making it free and allowing people who “ordinarily live in Canada” and are aged 14 or older to register as a Liberal. All registered Liberals are entitled to vote in the electoral district association where they reside and in leadership contests.

In contrast, the Conservatives require an annual $15 donation, and allow only citizens and permanent residents to join and vote in nomination contests.

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Mr. Chong said these party membership vulnerabilities are avenues for foreign influence that could have potential impacts on the prime ministership.

“We could have a situation here in Canada where a Prime Minister resigns from office. The registered political party conducts an election for the leader. That election, if subject to the same kind of rules that some of the parties have outlined here today and yesterday at the Commission, would result in the appointment of a Prime Minister who does not have a seat in the House of Commons and who was elected through a process that was significantly compromised by non-citizens and by foreign state actors,” he said.

Mr. Chong highlighted another example of his concerns regarding party leadership vulnerability, citing the case of the late Jim Prentice, who became Alberta premier without being elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Alberta.

“When Jim Prentice was appointed Premier of the Province of Alberta, he was a private citizen,” Mr. Chong said. “He did not have a seat in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Alberta. He had simply been elected as leader of the Alberta PC [Progressive Conservative] Party.”

Mr. Chong’s concerns echo warnings from experts in a recent study, which also identified vulnerabilities in party membership and voting across three major parties—Liberals, Conservatives, and NDP—susceptible to foreign interference and potentially impacting the prime ministership.

“Foreign actors could also influence the selection process of party leadership, and hence the prime ministership, simply by purchasing party memberships that hand out ballots in leadership races without verifying the identities of new members,” stated the study “Beyond General Elections,” published by Sage Journals on March 18.

Mr. Chong, whom CSIS has warned is a target of Beijing’s interference, testified that the Conservative Party was affected by the Chinese regime’s foreign interference activities in the 2021 election, losing about half a dozen ridings as a result.

Allegations of Beijing’s meddling have also surfaced in provincial and municipal elections.

Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West revealed that Canada’s intelligence agency informed him in 2022 about efforts by the Chinese Communist Party to recruit a candidate to run against him in that year’s municipal election. B.C. Premier David Eby has also met with a CSIS regional director regarding allegations of the regime’s meddling in the 2022 Vancouver municipal election.