Federal Candidates ‘Appeared Willing’ to Be Involved in Foreign Interference: CSIS Intel

Intelligence released by the federal government aligns with previously leaked information that Chinese regime actors meddled with 11 candidates in the 2019 federal elections, and some appeared witting. “Reporting indicated that 11 political candidates and 13 political staff members were assessed to be either implicated in or impacted by, this group of threat actors,” says an intelligence summary presented at the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference on April 4. It adds some of these candidates “appeared willing” to cooperate in foreign interference activity, “while others appeared to be unaware of potential FI [foreign interference]-related activity due to its clandestine nature.” The summary, mostly created by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), describes the threat actors as being known or suspected to be linked to Beijing, and includes some officials. They “worked in loose coordination with one another to covertly advance PRC [People’s Republic of China] interests through Canadian democratic institutions.”...