OTTAWA, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) — The Liberal Party has refused to change their membership rules for the upcoming leadership race, meaning Canada’s next prime minister could effectively be chosen by non-Canadians.
On January 7 the Liberals confirmed that their membership rules allowing non-citizens to vote in leadership races will remain intact despite concerns that this could lead to foreign interference in selecting a prime minister to replace Justin Trudeau, who has announced he is stepping down.
According to information shared with CBC News, the Liberal Party “doesn’t intend to change or reinterpret rules in its 2016 constitution that Elections Canada has suggested could make the vote be at least as vulnerable to such efforts as previous leadership races.”
Following Trudeau’s resignation, the Liberal Party is preparing for a leadership race. In addition to being the new Liberal leader, the winning candidate will automatically serve as prime minister at least until an election is held, which could be as late as October.
Currently, the Liberal Party rules do not require proof of Canadian citizenship to join the party, but only that the person “ordinarily live[s] in Canada or, for Canadians living abroad, be qualified as an elector who may vote in accordance with part 11 of the Canada Elections Act.”
Additionally, while voters must by 18 years-old to participate in the Federal Election, voters as young as 14-years-old can participate in the Liberal’s leadership race provided they “support the purposes of the Party.”
Many have pointed out that the loose rules will allow any number of non-citizens, from China, India, Russia or any part of the world, to effectively help select the interim prime minister.
According to Statistics Canada, there are now more than three million non-permanent residents living in Canada who are eligible to vote for the new Liberal leader and consequently, the prime minister.
Even some Liberal MPs have called for more strict rules to safeguard the upcoming leadership race, noting the potential dangers of their open policy.
The concerns regarding the integrity of the upcoming leadership race come after more than a year of evidence has been submitted to indicate foreign interference took place in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. In fact, reports show that China bragged it meddled in 41 candidates’ campaigns in Canada’s 2019 election, which saw Trudeau’s Liberal government re-elected to a second term.
In response to foreign interference claims, the Foreign Interference Commission was convened in late 2023 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 is headed by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, who had earlier said she and her lawyers will remain “impartial” and will not be influenced by politics. In January 2024, Hogue said that she would “uncover the truth whatever it may be.”
As reported by LifeSiteNews, documents from a federal inquiry looking at meddling in Canada’s past two elections by foreign state actors show that agents of the CCP allegedly worked at Elections Canada polling centers during the 2021 campaign.
To date, Trudeau has been coy and has never explicitly stated whether he was ever told by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) that CCP agents’ actions were in breach of the nation’s Elections Act.
A few months ago, the head of Canada’s intelligence agency testified under oath that he gave Trudeau multiple warnings that agents of the CCP were going after Conservative MPs, yet the prime minister has denied receiving these warnings.