Conservatives and New Democrats have called for a public inquiry.
With his government under fire over claims that China meddled in the 2019 and 2021 votes, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced multiple investigations into foreign election interference and the appointment of a special rapporteur.
Trudeau told a news conference Monday evening that, in the coming days, he will name an “eminent” and independent person as a special rapporteur on election interference “who will have a wide mandate and make expert recommendations on combating interference and strengthening our democracy.” Trudeau’s announcement comes during a heated debate in Ottawa over how to handle the issue. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre have been pushing the idea of an open inquiry on foreign election interference. Trudeau said the rapporteur could recommend a formal inquiry. “And we will abide by their recommendation,” he said in prepared remarks. Trudeau and the head of Canada’s intelligence agency have acknowledged that China attempted to interfere in the past two federal elections. They maintain the elections’ overall outcomes were not altered.
The prime minister also said he’s tasked the country’s two intelligence review bodies — the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians and the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency — with investigating the issue. “I talked to them about undertaking urgent work on the issue of foreign interference, within their mandates,” he said.
MPs and senators on the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) receive Top Secret security clearances and are permanently bound to secrecy under the Security of Information Act, permitting them access to the agencies’ usually secret activities. Trudeau said NSICOP will launch a new review of foreign interference, with a focus on elections. The committee was set up in 2017 to provide parliamentary oversight of Ottawa’s intelligence operations. It completed a report on foreign interference back in 2019, which called on the government to “do better.”
Source. cbc.ca
