A member of Canada’s parliament testified Tuesday that Chinese high school students were bused in to vote for him in a party election that is at the center of a federal investigation into interference in Canadian elections by China and of other foreign countries.
Testifying at a public hearing in Ottawa, Member of Parliament Han Dong, a Chinese-Canadian politician and former member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party, said he met with and sought support from students at a private high school in 2019, but that he did not know who had rented or paid for the bus on election day.
A Canadian intelligence report released during the hearing said there were indications that a “known proxy agent” at the Chinese consulate had provided students with “falsified documents to enable them to vote” even though they did not reside in Mr. Dong’s electoral district .
Non-citizens over the age of 14 can register and vote in party elections as long as they can demonstrate that they live in a constituency.
According to the report, there were also indications that the Chinese consulate had forced the students to support Mr Dong by issuing “veiled threats” relating to their visas and their families in China.
The Chinese embassy has consistently denied interfering in Canadian politics.
Mr. Dong’s testimony was part of an ongoing trial federal investigation on foreign interference in the Canadian political system, particularly in the 2019 and 2021 general elections. The investigation was launched after a series of intelligence leaks to Canadian media indicated that the Chinese government had interfered in both elections by supporting candidates favorable to his policies and undermining his critics.
Tuesday’s public hearing before a commission appointed by Trudeau featured political officials directly involved in the 2019 and 2021 elections for the first time.
Mr. Dong denied receiving help from the Chinese government during his campaign for Parliament in the 2019 Canadian general election. Asked whether he believed the Chinese government interfered in Canadian politics, Mr. Dong said: “I have none Never seen any evidence.” When pressed, he added: “It’s possible.”
In recent years, Canadian intelligence officials have issued public warnings about China’s increasingly intensified efforts to influence votes in the populous suburbs of Toronto and Vancouver, which are home to Canada’s largest Chinese diasporas.
Under President Xi Jinping’s aggressive foreign policy, China has exploited its diasporas around the world to try to influence local politics, according to intelligence officials, academics and members of the diaspora. Other nations such as Australia have sought to curb China’s influence, including by establishing a foreign agent registry.
Canada under Trudeau’s government — whose Liberal Party candidates were generally favored by China, according to Canadian media — has long been criticized for not doing enough to combat foreign interference.
Trudeau has staunchly opposed a public inquiry into the matter, but, faced with growing opposition attacks and media leaks, agreed to hold one in September.
On Tuesday, the Liberal’s 2021 national campaign manager, Azam Ishmael, testified that the issue of foreign interference had been “low on the radar” in 2021.
But much of Tuesday was devoted to Mr. Dong’s party’s 2019 election in his Toronto constituency, Don Valley North, ahead of that year’s general election.
The outcome of the party race was significant because the district was a Liberal stronghold and the winner was almost certain to become its member of Parliament.
Party elections in that district became the focus of the investigation after Canadian media, citing leaks, reported that Mr. Dong had received help from the Chinese consulate in Toronto.
A government-appointed special rapporteur said last year that the party’s elections had been marked by “irregularities”, including “the entry of people and students”, and that there was a “well-founded suspicion” that Mr Dong had benefited from the benefits of the consulate. support.
In an interview with federal investigation officials in February, Mr. Dong did not mention the students who had been involved. On Monday, a day before he testified, he acknowledged the fact for the first time in a written statement to investigating officers. He did it, he said, after his wife “reminded” him.
Political scientists said the nomination process of Liberal and other parties was susceptible to foreign manipulation.
But Ishmael, the Liberal campaign manager, said the party’s nomination process was “rigorous”, adding that he did not believe it was “vulnerable to foreign interference”.
On Tuesday, a lawyer representing an opposition lawyer noted that foreign students following “a one-year study program” could also vote in party elections.
And a lawyer for a human rights organization pointed out during Tuesday’s hearing that authoritarian governments can force foreign students or members of the diaspora to vote a certain way through various means, including cellphone and social media monitoring average.
Would this fear “make members of diaspora communities vulnerable to coercion into a racial nomination?” the lawyer asked Mr. Ishmael.
Mr Ishmael said he hadn’t thought about it “in depth”, but added: “I would think so, yes.”
The commission of inquiry, led by Quebec Superior Court judge Marie-Josée Hogue, is expected to release a preliminary report in May and a final one in December.
The Chinese government leads other nations in interfering in Canadian politics, according to an intelligence briefing released during the hearings. But concerns about meddling broadened last year, when Trudeau accused Indian government agents of killing a Canadian Sikh leader in Vancouver.