MPs to hear from top intelligence officials as foreign interference allegations stack up

As reports of alleged Chinese interference in the last two federal elections stack up, MPs on the House of Commons committee examining foreign election interference will be hearing from some of Canada's highest-ranking intelligence officials on Wednesday.

As reports of alleged Chinese interference in the last two federal elections stack up, MPs on the House of Commons committee examining foreign election interference will be hearing from some of Canada's highest-ranking intelligence officials on Wednesday.

The Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC) will be meeting at 3 p.m. even though MPs are not sitting this week, to hear from a list of federal witnesses including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's National Security and Intelligence Adviser Jody Thomas, foreign affairs associate deputy minister Cindy Termorshuizen, and public safety deputy minister Shawn Tupper.

Following that trio, members of the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force will appear, including CSIS director general of intelligence assessments Adam Fisher, RCMP executive director of intelligence and international policing Adriana Poloz, and the Communication Security Establishment's (CSE) deputy chief of signals intelligence, Alia Tayyeb.

It's expected these witnesses will be prodded by members of Parliament for information about what they know about attempts by China to meddle in and influence Canada's democratic process and what they advised Trudeau of in this regard, but given it’s a public meeting and the issue concerns highly sensitive information, it remains to be seen how detailed their responses will be.

Over the last several years Canadian security agencies have been warning governments and citizens of increasingly sophisticated efforts from foreign states to interfere in Canadian affairs, though over the last few months media reports, including those citing unnamed CSIS sources, have raised questions around specific alleged attempts to meddle in the 2019 and 2021 elections.

For example, The Globe and Mail has reported that China used a "sophisticated strategy" to defeat Conservative politicians considered unfriendly to Beijing while attempting to get the Liberals re-elected in 2021, an effort defeated former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu told CTV News he thinks he was a target of.

Global News has reported that China allegedly interfered in the 2019 campaigns of some candidates, including Liberal Han Dong who the news outlet reported CSIS believed was a "witting affiliate" of Chinese influence networks, and that the spy agency told the Prime Minister's Office to rescind his nomination. Dong has strongly denied these claims, and CTV News has not independently verified either outlets' reporting.