Alberta MP reiterates call for election-interference inquiry

St. Albert-Edmonton MP Michael Cooper said months of committee meetings and hearings into reports China interfered in Canadian elections have generated more questions than answers. 

Cooper, who sits on the standing committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC), said despite numerous hearings and the work of special rapporteur on foreign interference David Johnston, the Conservative party feels a public inquiry is the only solution for getting to the bottom of Chinese meddling in Canada's affairs.

“What we have seen is a prime minister who has been anything but transparent when it comes to what he knows and when he learned of Beijing's interference in two federal elections in 2019 and 2021,” Cooper said. 

“We know that the prime minister had been briefed multiple times but kept Canadians in the dark, and one must wonder why it is that he kept Canadians in the dark and why Canadians were not aware of Beijing's attack on our democracy until journalists who reviewed (Canadian Security Intelligence Service or CSIS) documents began reporting on Beijing's interference,” he said.

Cooper was referring to articles published late last year and throughout the first half of 2023 by the Globe and Mail and Global News.

Cooper had specific concerns with two events described in the Globe and Mail and Global articles: the targeting of Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family by a Chinese diplomat in 2021, and disinformation campaigns run by the Chinese government in an attempt to influence the 2021 federal election in favour of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party.

Regarding the targeting of Chong, which after it was reported by the Globe and Mail led to the expulsion of a Chinese diplomat in May, Cooper said the PROC has undertaken a question of privilege into why CSIS didn't inform Chong he was a target.

“We know that an issues-management memo from CSIS had been sent to the minister of public safety, his chief of staff, and the deputy minister of public safety in May of 2021," Cooper said. "And a CSIS memo was sent to three deputy ministers, including the deputy minister of foreign affairs, public safety, and global affairs, and to the prime minister's own department the (Privy Council Office), and that memo went to the prime minister's national security and intelligence adviser. And despite that, Michael Chong was kept in the dark that he was being targeted and that his family in Hong Kong were being targeted.”

“(Chong) only learned about it when he was called by a reporter from the Globe and Mail who was about to break the story.”

In May, the Globe and Mail reported Trudeau said CSIS made the decision not to inform Chong because the agency felt the targeting wasn't a significant concern.

Cooper also reiterated the Conservative party's distrust of the work done by Johnston, who is a former governor general of Canada, because of Johnston's connections to the Trudeau family dating back over 30 years and for being a past member of the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation.

On June 9, Johnston resigned from his appointment after four months, and his final report on foreign interference was tabled on June 26 but not made public.

Following Johnston's resignation in early June, the leaders of the Conservative Party, NDP, and Bloc Québécois called for a public inquiry into Chinese interference, which Trudeau has repeatedly said is unnecessary.

Cooper said his experience with the PROC and hearing testimony from high-ranking present and past intelligence agency officials, ministers, RCMP directors, journalists, and more has only strengthened his conviction that a public inquiry is necessary.

“What is clear is that we need a public inquiry to get to the bottom of Beijing's interference and what the prime minister knew, when he knew about it, and what he did or failed to do about Beijing's attack on our democracy,” he said. “Canadians deserve answers — they deserve answers to know why this government failed to act and they also deserve to know that measures are being taken so that this type of interference doesn't happen again.”

“In order to get those answers we need a public inquiry headed by someone who is not only independent but perceived to be independent.”

Further testimony won't be heard until September, as the spring parliamentary sitting came to an end on June 21.