Global Courant 2023-04-19 06:54:02
A former national security adviser to the prime minister says he had “numerous conversations” with Justin Trudeau about Beijing’s meddling in Canadian affairs before the 2019 election, but added that Russia was a major concern for the intelligence community at the time.
“At that time, we were very concerned about Russia,” Daniel Jean, who served as national security adviser from May 2016 to May 2018, told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday evening.
“But we were certainly more and more worried about Beijing.”
Jean appeared before the Committee on Procedure and Home Affairs as MPs delved into recent allegations about the scale of the Chinese government’s attempts to interfere in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
Former Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick also answered questions from the committee and told Conservative MP Michael Cooper that he recalled no talks about Beijing interference.
“The main concern at the time was Russia,” said Wernick, who served as the country’s top official from 2016 to 2019.
“It was a month after the French presidential election and we were very concerned about the disruption of the election, but most of the attention was then on Russia.”
Former Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick also answered questions from MPs. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
Both former top federal officials said no topic was off limits when they briefed the prime minister.
The commission investigated what the Liberal government did or did not know about Beijing’s meddling in Canadian affairs following recent news reports.
The Globe and Mail has published reports claiming that Beijing tried to get the Liberals to win a minority government in the last general election and beat conservative candidates who criticized China.
Global News has reported that intelligence officials told Trudeau that the Chinese consulate in Toronto had passed cash to at least 11 federal election candidates “and numerous agents in Beijing” who worked as campaign staffers in 2019.
Jean, who remains permanently bound by secrecy due to his past approval level, said he could not comment on classified briefings.
“But I don’t want to be seen as trying to dodge the question. So I’ll be clear that during my stint as National Security Adviser, yes, we briefed the Prime Minister on foreign interference — China and others because, of course, it’s not just China,” he said.
Wernick said he does not recall any information about Beijing officials actively trying to interfere in Canada’s democratic processes.
“Not that I remember,” he said under questioning.
“I left the government four years ago today. I have not taken any files or classified documents with me. I have no access to document logs, I have no access to my old calendars, and I do not have access to all records.”
Wernick stepped down as clerk in 2019 following the SNC-Lavalin affair, saying there is “no way” for him to have a “relationship of mutual trust and respect” with opposition party leaders.
The former clerk on Tuesday suggested that MPs proceed to introduce legislation similar to that before the UK parliament, which would create a new offense of foreign interference.
Jean, who retired following a furor over comments he made to reporters suggesting India sabotaged the prime minister’s scandal-ridden trip to the country in 2018, told the committee it may be time to update the laws that Canada’s espionage agency – the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. better respond to foreign interference.
Liberal MP David McGuinty told the Public Safety and National Security Committee that Ottawa should pay more attention to the work of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of parliamentarians. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
‘More acceptance, more action’
In a separate parliamentary committee Tuesday evening, the chairman of one of the intelligence agencies that investigates foreign election interference said he would like the federal government to pay more attention to the work of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP).
“We are hopeful that the government will now pay a lot of attention, perhaps more attention to some of the recommendations,” Liberal MP David McGuinty told the Committee on Public Safety and National Security.
“We’re always looking for more acceptance, more traction, because the purpose of the committee we’re here with is to improve the situation for Canadians.”
Last month, Trudeau asked NSICOP to review the issue of foreign interference, with a special focus on election interference.
It is not the first time that McGuinty and the bipartisan MPs and senators on the committee have weighed in on the issue.
The group, which is given top-secret permission to review classified information, released a report in 2019 urging Ottawa to take the threat of foreign interference more seriously.
“Canada has been slow to respond to the threat of foreign interference,” the commission wrote in 2019.
“The government needs to do better.”
That report made a series of recommendations about how to respond to the threat of foreign interference, but the commission said it had not received an official response from Trudeau’s administration for years.
