Send an urgent message to Canadian legislators urging them to stop more online censorship laws
OTTAWA, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) –– Monitors for Canada’s federal elections admitted that despite getting hundreds of complaints claiming that agents of Communist China were interfering in the last two federal elections, it spent vast resources in a four-year chase against Rebel News for planting lawn signs promoting a book critical of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the 2019 election.
The admission was made earlier this week by Elections Commissioner Caroline Simard during the public inquiry being held to investigate alleged meddling in Canada’s two most recent federal elections by agents of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), formally titled the Foreign Interference Commission.
Mylène Gigou, who serves as senior director of enforcement in the Office of the Elections Commissioner, testified that “Canada Elections Act is extremely, extremely complex,” adding that they all “work in a small team where we work very closely with legal counsel.”
Nando de Luca, counsel for the Conservative Party, asked if it would be fair to say, “For investigations of breaches of the Elections Act by domestic actors, the Office has allocated far greater resources and spent far more time in its enforcement activities than it has in respect of alleged breaches of the Act by foreign operators?”
“It is difficult to answer such questions,” replied Simard.
In June 2019, the federal government amended Canada’s Elections Act. The rules require that third parties, including non-profit groups, register with Elections Canada if they spend more than $500 on any kind of “political advertising.” This includes any spending that boosts positions taken during election campaigns regarding issues of public policy. The new Elections Act also sets spending limits on third-party election advertising.
During the fall 2019 Canadian federal election, Rebel News head Ezra Levant Levant was promoting his book, The Libranos: What the media won’t tell you about Justin Trudeau’s corruption, via posters, lawn signs, billboards, and other methods. While the Elections Act permits book promotions, the Commissioner ruled that the lawn signs were not a typical promotion and because Levant was not “registered” as a campaign actor, his action was a violation of the rules.
As a result, Levant was fined $3,000 by the Commissioner, a decision which was upheld by a federal judge last December.
Conservatives question why feds used vast resources to target Rebel News
During the public inquiry this week, de Luca questioned why the Elections Commissioner went after Rebel News so strongly, while at the same time a massive number of complaints concerning CCP interference went un-investigated.
“We are talking about a period of well over four years that the Office of the Commissioner of Elections devoted expenses and resources to this one particular instance of contravention of the Elections Act,” said de Luca.
Now-retired Elections Commissioner Yves Côté, who was the one who green-lit the Rebel News prosecution, said, “I have no specific recollection.”
“The link with foreign interference is not apparent to me for the time being,” said Côté. “What you are saying about this case, I don’t see foreign interference at all in the picture. That said, yes, there was an administrative monetary penalty against Rebel News.”
The Foreign Interference Commission began on January 29 and “will examine and assess the interference by China, Russia and other foreign states or non-state actors, including any potential impacts, in order to confirm the integrity of, and any impacts on, the 43rd and 44th general elections (2019 and 2021 elections) at the national and electoral district levels.”
The inquiry is being headed by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, who had earlier said that she and her lawyers will remain “impartial” and will not be influenced by politics throughout the process.
In January, Hogue said that she would “uncover the truth whatever it may be.”
“The role of a Commission of Inquiry is to investigate the facts in order to understand what happened in a given situation. Under its mandate, it carries out an objective search of the truth while identifying specific matters, draws conclusions and make recommendations to the government,” she said.
The first set of hearings, or “Stage 1,” are taking place from now until April 10, and will include a host of witnesses including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The “Stage 2” part of the public inquiry will take place this fall and will look at the Trudeau government’s ability to both detect and fight foreign interference targeting Canada’s electoral processes.
The hearings are being held at the Library and Archives Canada building in Ottawa.
When it comes to the CCP, many Canadians, especially pro-freedom Chinese Canadians, are concerned considering Trudeau’s past praise for China’s “basic dictatorship” and his labeling of the authoritarian nation as his favorite country other than his own.
The potential meddling in Canada’s elections by agents of the CCP has many Canadians worried as well.
The public inquiry comes after Trudeau launched a failed investigation into CCP allegations last year after much delay. That inquiry was not done in the public and was headed by “family friend” and former Governor General David Johnston, whom Trudeau appointed as “independent special rapporteur.”
Johnston quit as “special rapporteur” after a public outcry following his conclusion that there should not be a public inquiry into the matter. Conservative MPs demanded Johnston be replaced over his ties to both China and the Trudeau family.
Send an urgent message to Canadian legislators urging them to stop more online censorship laws