Nationwide safety officers drafted a warning for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his workplace greater than a yr earlier than the 2019 federal election, alleging that Chinese language brokers had been “helping Canadian candidates working for political workplaces,” based on a Privy Council Workplace doc reviewed by International Information.
Written by the workplace of Nationwide Safety and Intelligence Advisor, Daniel Jean, on the request of Trudeau’s chief of employees — and arguably his most trusted aide — Katie Telford, the doc referred to as “Memorandum for the Prime Minister” was additionally offered to Privy Council Workplace clerk Michael Wernick, information present.
Whereas the doc is neither signed nor stamped, its high-level provenance doubtless signifies that it’s a sophisticated draft.
It stays unclear, although, whether or not the memo was finalized and despatched to Trudeau and the Prime Minister’s Workplace or if comparable data was conveyed in one other memo or below a unique title.
The four-page June 2017 memo asserted that senior intelligence officers had well-documented proof of China’s efforts to infiltrate “all ranges of presidency” and goes on to allege that “[T]here’s a substantial physique of proof that Chinese language officers are actively pursuing a technique of engagement to affect Canadian officers in methods that may compromise the safety of Canada and the integrity of Canadian establishments.”
It additionally alleges that to keep away from detection, Chinese language officers used native, pro-Beijing neighborhood teams as intermediaries to have interaction Canadian politicians they recognized as strategically precious.
“Latest reporting signifies that Chinese language diplomats are conscious that Canadian officers with whom they’ve contact are being scrutinized for potential conflicts of curiosity,” says the memo from the PCO, which repeatedly briefs the Prime Minister’s Workplace and applicable cupboard ministers on nationwide safety intelligence.”
The 2017 PCO doc additionally highlighted that subversion efforts had occurred earlier than the 2019 election.
“Chinese language international influenced espionage acts towards elected officers and public servants in Canada is effectively documented,” it says.
Citing confidentiality round nationwide safety points, PMO spokesperson Alison Murphy mentioned she couldn’t touch upon the memo’s specifics or the existence of a observe. She did say, nevertheless, that the prime minister is repeatedly briefed on nationwide safety issues, together with international interference, and that he and his employees usually request data on safety and intelligence issues together with because it pertains to international interference from China.
Ready for Trudeau 14 months earlier than the 2019 election, “The Memorandum for the Prime Minister” raises questions on how significantly the PMO took the allegations and what steps Ottawa might have taken to deal with what nationwide safety officers later alleged was Chinese language authorities interference in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 federal contests.
The memo additionally presages comparable allegations over 5 years that, based on sources, had been of many documentary and oral briefings offered by senior intelligence officers that warned of China’s infiltration of Canadian political events and elections.
International Information beforehand reported that Privy Council Workplace memos and briefs in 2020 and 2022 alleged that Chinese language officers had covertly funded a clandestine community within the 2019 federal election that focused 11 or extra candidates.
The June 2017 “Memorandum for the Prime Minister” arrived at an amicable time in Sino-Canadian relations. Stephen Harper, with whom Beijing had a cold relationship, had left workplace as prime minister, and Justin Trudeau’s extra beneficial angle towards the regime — echoing his father’s trendsetting engagement with Mao’s China — introduced new heat to the rapport.
With the assist of China’s appreciable enterprise foyer in Canada, Ottawa was championing a free-trade settlement to offset its reliance on the USA, which appeared to be more and more protectionist below then-president Donald Trump.
Privy Council Workplace information reviewed by International Information clarify that Trudeau’s chief of employees, Katie Telford, requested the workplace to supply an evaluation with extra particular details about an earlier Communications Safety Institution (CSE) report.
Whereas International Information has not reviewed that CSE report, it understands from sources that it referred to intelligence on China’s efforts to have interaction and affect Canadian politicians.
A assessment of the ensuing June 2017 memo for Trudeau reveals that it was issued from the workplace of Nationwide Safety Advisor Daniel Jean, a veteran Canadian international affairs official with expertise in commerce and immigration points in Canada’s Hong Kong Excessive Fee.
A yr earlier, Jean changed Richard Fadden, a former CSIS director who was controversial for his personal warnings about Beijing’s affect on Canadian politicians.
The June 2017 draft was additionally copied to Michael Wernick, clerk of the Privy Council Workplace. Wernick and Jean’s duties included briefing the prime minister and related cupboard ministers on critical nationwide safety issues.
Supplied the contents of the June 2017 memo drafted by Jean’s workplace, each Wernick and Jean mentioned they may not reply International’s questions.
“It might be inappropriate for me to remark,” Jean mentioned in a textual content message.
Together with its warning about Beijing’s try to infiltrate the Canadian political system, “Memorandum for the Prime Minister” additionally warned that Chinese language safety companies would possibly attempt to compromise Canadian officers who travelled to China.
Underneath the subheading “Chinese language Efforts to Affect Canadian Politicians,” the 2017 PCO memo additionally cautions that “Canadian officers are extremely prone to be topics of Chinese language efforts to exert undue affect or in any other case compromise their independence throughout journey to China.”
4 months after the 2019 election, one other PCO memo was offered to senior Liberal officers.
Echoing the warnings from the 2017 memo, “PRC International Interference: 2019 Elections” went into some element in regards to the alleged community’s financing strategies in the course of the contest.
Reviewed by International Information, the memo mentioned that the Chinese language Consulate in Toronto used an intensive community of neighborhood teams to hide the movement of funds between Chinese language officers and community members.
“This community includes the Chinese language consulate, local people leaders, Canadian politicians, and their employees,” the 2020 PCO report says. “Underneath broad steerage from the consulate, co-opted employees of focused politicians present recommendation on China-related points, and neighborhood leaders facilitate the clandestine switch of funds and recruit potential targets.”
The result of those operations, the doc says, is that “employees of focused politicians present recommendation on China-related points” to the Chinese language consulate.
Invoice Blair, then public security minister, acknowledged in December receiving “sure data” from the 2020 memo however declined to elaborate.
“I’m not capable of share the main points of that,” mentioned Blair, now Emergency Preparedness minister and the one minister to publicly acknowledge the 2020 briefing.
Beginning in January 2022, a sequence of memos and briefs, allegedly delivered to the prime minister and several other cupboard ministers, offered extra element of the purported community.
The Larger Toronto-based community allegedly included 11 or extra candidates, 13 or extra federal aides, an Ontario MPP and unelected public officers. Referred to as “Particular Report,” the knowledge was derived from 100 CSIS paperwork.
Separate sources instructed International that the consulate additionally allegedly transferred round $250,000 to a regime-friendly group to behave as an middleman, which in flip disbursed that quantity to community members.
The identical sources say this data was not included within the briefing offered to the prime minister or his ministers. In addition they mentioned the community consisted of Liberals and Conservatives.
After International first reported these briefings final November, he and several other ministers insisted that the 2019 elections weren’t compromised. “Our integrity held,” the prime minister instructed International Information in December.
When requested by International Information if it had gotten something improper in its reporting, Trudeau didn’t deal with the allegations within the 2022 memo, saying solely that he was not knowledgeable of the allegation about China funding the 2019 candidates.
“I by no means received in all of the briefings and all the intense briefings I received, I by no means received briefings on candidates receiving cash from China.”
Extra broadly, nevertheless, many within the intelligence neighborhood consider their warnings on China’s interference campaigns have gone unheeded, endangering the integrity of future elections and eroding the belief of Canada’s allies.
“For Canada, Beijing is the most important risk by far, and it’s getting worse,” mentioned John Schindler, a former Nationwide Safety Company analyst. “Washington is unquestionably noticing the rising debate in Canada about Chinese language espionage, illicit affect, and political subversion.”
Schindler added that with out reforms, “Beijing will hold doing what it does with impunity.”
International Information sources who defined these varied intelligence paperwork say the prime minister’s workplace has been reticent to undertake authorized reforms already undertaken by Canada’s allies, corresponding to a foreign-agent registry that may higher shield Canada’s elections.
One official who was not licensed to talk publicly referred to as it “inexcusable” that Trudeau’s workplace has but to maneuver ahead with new legal guidelines regardless of years of “interactive” dialogue with senior intelligence officers relating to China’s incursions into Canadian elections.
“The floodgates have been opened within the final 5 years. There was ample proof positioned in entrance of the Liberal Celebration of Canada, they usually have carried out basically nothing.”
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