Federal security officials say they expect Beijing will attempt to meddle in the ongoing electoral campaign.
The chair of the elections security task force provided the body’s assessment on the different threats facing the election during a press conference in Ottawa on March 24.
“It is expected that the People’s Republic of China, or PRC, will likely continue to target Canadian democratic institutions and civil society to advance its strategic objectives,” said Vanessa Lloyd, who heads the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force.
SITE is composed of representatives of four different departments and agencies with a security mandate. Lloyd’s permanent post is deputy director of operations, or second-in-command, with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). SITE also includes representatives of the RCMP, Global Affairs Canada, and the Communications Security Establishment.
Chinese officials and their proxies are “likely to conduct foreign interference activity using a complex array of both overt and covert mechanisms,” Lloyd added without elaborating.
Some of these mechanisms have come to light in recent years through intelligence leaks in the media and via documents released through the Foreign Interference Commission presided by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue. They have involved
mobilizing community groups to shun certain election candidates or implicating some candidates and staffers in interference
networks.
The PRC has been identified as the foremost foreign interference threat by the Hogue
report released in January.
Lloyd used the term “likely” to qualify the level of certainty SITE has that Beijing will generally interfere in the election, and “highly likely” regarding more specific meddling activities.
“The PRC is highly likely to use AI-enabled tools to attempt to interfere with Canada’s democratic process in this current election,” she said. Lloyd added that China is highly likely to use social media to promote its narratives and “specifically target Chinese ethnic, cultural, and religious communities in Canada using clandestine and deceptive means.”
Leadership Race
Federal authorities recently detected an online attempt to interfere in the Liberal leadership race that was linked back to China.Global Affairs Canada’s Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM), which monitors the digital information environment for foreign state-sponsored disinformation,
said in February that it detected an information operation targeting then-leadership candidate Chrystia Freeland.
The RRM said “disparaging” news articles about Freeland, originating from an anonymous blog linked to the PRC, were being spread on the widely popular Chinese-language social platform WeChat. The RRM said the campaign was seen by approximately 2 million to 3 million WeChat users globally.
WeChat was also used in the 2021 election to spread misinformation about the Conservative Party.
The RRM wrote in an October 2021
report that it had identified what “may be” a PRC “influence operation” aimed at discouraging Chinese-Canadians from supporting the Tories, its then-leader Erin O'Toole, and candidate Kenny Chiu. Chiu lost his seat in the B.C. riding of Steveston—Richmond East in the 2021 election and blamed his defeat on the campaign on WeChat and Chinese-language media.
O'Toole
testified at the Hogue Commission in April 2024 and said he believed six to nine seats “were possibly changed as a result of foreign interference.” The Tories under his leadership had run a campaign critical of the Chinese regime.
In her final report, Hogue said foreign interference did not impact the overall results of the past elections but that it is difficult to determine whether it impacted individuals ridings.
“It is possible that results in a small number of ridings were affected, but this cannot be said with certainty,” she wrote, given it is not possible to “directly link the misleading media narratives mentioned earlier with how any given voter cast their ballot.”
Other Countries
Along with concerns around China, Lloyd said the Indian government has the “intent and capability” to interfere in elections to “assert its geopolitical influence.”Relations between Ottawa and New Delhi have remained strained since 2023 when then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
accused Indian agents of being involved in the murder of a pro-Khalistan activist in British Columbia. Ottawa later
expelled six Indian diplomats and consular officials accused of being “persons of interest” in the murder. India has denied involvement and has accused Ottawa of making politically motivated allegations.
Lloyd also said Russia could use online networks to interfere and added that Pakistan could also meddle to seek to counter India’s influence.
Government intelligence
summaries released to the Hogue Inquiry say that Pakistan has previously conducted foreign interference against Canada. Meanwhile, the summaries say authorities have not detected “significant foreign interference” in past federal elections from Russia, although it possesses the capabilities.
During this year’s federal election campaign, SITE officials are monitoring for foreign interference threats and are briefing the group of senior public servants, also called the panel of five, who administer the Critical Election Incident Public
Protocol.
The protocol was
established in January 2019 as part of measures to protect Canada’s electoral process from foreign interference. The panel’s role is to warn Canadians if authorities detect a significant foreign interference event. The panel did not make public pronouncements in the previous two federal elections, even though it was in possession of information on potential foreign meddling, notably in the 2019 Liberal nomination race in
Don Valley North and in the case of
Kenny Chiu in 2021.
The federal election was triggered on March 23 and Canadians will vote on April 28.
