OTTAWA, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) — Canadian officials from the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force warned that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government will most likely try to interfere in Canada’s upcoming federal election.
Vanessa Lloyd, chair of the task force, observed during a March 24 press conference that “it is expected that the People’s Republic of China, or PRC, will likely continue to target Canadian democratic institutions and civil society to advance its strategic objectives.”
SITE is made up of representatives of multiple Canadian departments and agencies that have a security mandate.
Lloyd’s regular job is as the Deputy Director of Operations, second in charge, for Canada’s spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
According to Lloyd, officials from China as well as CCP proxies will be “likely to conduct foreign interference activity using a complex array of both overt and covert mechanisms.”
Her warning comes after the final report from the Foreign Interference Commission concluded that operatives from the CCP may have had a hand in helping to elect a handful of MPs in both the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections. It also concluded that China was the primary foreign interference threat to Canada.
The commission shed light on how CCP agents and proxies conduct election interference, with one method being to rally community groups to make sure certain election candidates are looked down upon.
According to Lloyd, it is “highly likely” that China will engage in certain election meddling using specific tools such as AI.
“The PRC is highly likely to use AI-enabled tools to attempt to interfere with Canada’s democratic process in this current election,” she noted, adding that China will also use social media as well to “specifically target Chinese ethnic, cultural, and religious communities in Canada using clandestine and deceptive means.”
Lloyd also noted that the Indian government could also be involved in meddling, as it has the “intent and capability” to “assert its geopolitical influence.”
Canada will hold its next federal election on April 28 after Prime Minister Mark Carney triggered it on Sunday.
As reported by LifeSiteNews earlier in the month, a new exposé by investigative journalist Sam Cooper claims there is compelling evidence that Carney and former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are strongly influenced by an “elite network” of foreign actors, including those with ties to communist China and the World Economic Forum.
In light of multiple accusations of foreign meddling in Canadian elections, the federal Foreign Interference Commission was convened last year to “examine and assess the interference by China, Russia, and other foreign states or non-state actors, including any potential impacts, 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 commission was formed after Trudeau’s special rapporteur, former Governor General David Johnston, failed in an investigation into CCP allegations after much delay. That inquiry was not done in public and was headed by Johnston, who is a “family friend” of Trudeau.
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 China and the Trudeau family.