India may have influenced Conservative Party of Canada leadership race: Report
In December, government-funded outlet CBC News reported Indian agents “attempted to derail” the candidacy of Patrick Brown for the Conservative Party of Canada leadership
India may have influenced the 2022 Conservative Party of Canada leadership race in favour of the winner, Pierre Poilievre, The Globe and Mail reported on Tuesday, weeks before the federal election in Canada on April 28.
The paper cited an unnamed senior official saying the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) learned “Indian agents were involved in raising money and organising within the South Asian community for Mr Poilievre during the leadership race, which he won handily.”
It added the CSIS assessment “did not indicate that this effort was done in a sweeping and highly organised way” and it “did not have evidence” that Poilievre or members of his inner circle “were aware of the alleged actions of India’s agents and their proxies.”
CSIS told the foreign interference commission last year that “they had no reason to believe the impacted candidates would have been aware of the alleged support.”
In December, government-funded outlet CBC News reported Indian agents “attempted to derail” the candidacy of Patrick Brown for the Conservative Party of Canada leadership. Brown is now the Brampton mayor.
Brown refuted that report, saying, “I have no reason to believe that such interference altered the outcome of the 2022 Conservative Party of Canada leadership race.”
Poilievre was favoured to win the 2022 leadership race, which he did comfortably with nearly 68% of the ballots cast in the first round. On Tuesday, Poilievre said he won that race “fair and square.” He added he had no intention of seeking the security clearance the “Liberals want to impose on me.”
Poilievre had security clearances when he was a Cabinet minister and also as the opposition leader. Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader Mark Carney described Poilievre’s refusal to seek clearance to view foreign interference files as “baffling”.
Poilievre counter-attacked, saying Carney went to Beijing and held “secret talks” with the deputy governor of the Chinese central bank after the then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made him an economic advisor last year. He said two weeks later, Canadian-American company Brookfield Asset Management, which Carney chaired until he resigned in January to run for Liberal leadership, got a quarter-billion-dollar loan. “What did they talk about? What did Mr Carney, in his role as Trudeau’s economic advisor, offer China?” Poilievre asked. “Why would he be collaborating with a hostile foreign regime that we have since learned executed four Canadians and took numerous Canadians hostage for a lengthy period of time?”
The Canadian government acknowledged this month that four of its citizens were executed in China this year, for alleged drug-related crimes.
Poilievre said that Carney has “massive financial interests” in Brookfield and described him as “financially compromised” and “conflicted”.
The issue of foreign interference first surfaced in February 2023 when The Globe and Mail reported that China may have influenced the results of the 2021 federal elections in Canada in favour of the ruling Liberal Party. The paper cited intelligence reports and said they showed Beijing was determined that the Conservatives did not win. It referred to a CSIS report about an unidentified Chinese consulate official as saying, “The Liberal Party of Canada is becoming the only party that the PRC [People’s Republic of China] can support.”
China is perceived as the principal threat of potential interference in the federal election in Canada. Ottawa is also monitoring potential influence operations by countries, including India.
The Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections or SITE Task Force is actively monitoring possible interference activity as the campaign for the April 28 federal election began on Sunday.
The task force’s chair and CSIS deputy director (operations), Vanessa Lloyd, said on Monday that China was highly likely to use AI-enabled tools to attempt to interfere with Canada’s democratic process in this election. She called India a potential threat. “We have also seen that the government of India has the intent and capability to interfere in Canadian communities and democratic processes.” Russia and Pakistan were the other countries named.
In January, the final report of a foreign interference inquiry alleged that India was the “second most active country engaging in electoral foreign interference in Canada”. It said that like China, India is a critical actor on the world stage. The report added that only China has a greater impact on the country’s democratic processes. Russia, Pakistan, and Iran were among the other countries named in the report.
