Beijing sent busload of Chinese students to skew Canadian election outcome, documents claim
Beijing allegedly sent a bus of Chinese students to support a Canadian Liberal politician as part of a campaign of election interference in 2019 and 2021, according to an official briefing.
Previously classified documents have been unveiled as part of a public inquiry into foreign meddling in Canadian elections.
The bus allegation is included in a 2023 Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) briefing for the prime minister’s office on how Beijing had “clandestinely and deceptively interfered in both the 2019 and 2021 general elections”, reported The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper.
The document was in response to media reports that China was running a campaign to influence the 2021 poll. It suggested Beijing sought to inflict damage on the Conservative Party, which it viewed as more hawkish towards the Chinese Communist regime.
In 2021, China’s foreign interference activities “were almost certainly motivated by a perception that the Conservative Party of Canada was promoting a platform that was perceived to be anti-PRC”, the document said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
It added that online and media activities were aimed at discouraging Canadians, particularly of Chinese heritage, from supporting Conservative politicians, including leader Erin O’Toole.
Justin Trudeau, the prime minister, is set to testify later on Wednesday. He has previously publicly dismissed foreign interference reports and accused the Conservatives of being sore losers.
The intelligence documents indicate Beijing was behind the chartering of a bus full of Chinese students who were dispatched to help Liberal politician Han Dong secure his party nomination.
It suggests the students were pressured to do so and warned that “their student visas would be in jeopardy and that there could be consequences for their families back in the PRC” if they declined to support him.
Mr Dong has denied knowledge of anything nefarious. The Liberal Party also allows international students to vote in party nominations in the constituencies where they live.
Canadian intelligence officials considered it likely that China had provided $250,000 (£145,000) for influence operations during the 2019 poll.
The document states that multiple cabinet ministers and senior officials had been briefed on the allegations of Chinese operations.
‘Existential threat ’
“Until [foreign interference] is viewed as an existential threat to Canadian democracy, and governments forcefully and actively respond, these threats will persist,” it added, according to the Globe and Mail.
The briefing adds, however, that the task force assigned to monitor foreign interference concluded that the Chinese activities did not affect the overall election result.
The CSIS has also warned that a series of redacted documents tabled before the inquiry may include uncorroborated information that is single-sourced or incomplete and requires further investigation.
China has previously denounced accusations of interference as “baseless”.
Mr O’Toole and Conservative MP Kenny Chiu, who has also been named as a possible target for disinformation, have both testified in the inquiry.
Last week, Mr O’Toole said he believes Chinese meddling cost his party up to nine seats, although he conceded that it did not change the outcome of the election.
