CSIS prepped briefing on China’s election meddling, inquiry hears

A briefing document from Canada’s spy agency presented before Monday’s public inquiry into foreign interference says it knew China “clandestinely and deceptively interfered” in the past two federal votes.

The heavily redacted six-page document from February 2023 — labelled “Briefing to the Prime Minister’s Office on foreign interference threats to Canada’s democratic institutions” — emerged during Monday’s hearing at the public inquiry into foreign interference.

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Earlier, senior government officials who monitored threats during the 2021 and 2019 elections testified that their intelligence did not meet the high threshold for warning Canadians.

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The document was prepared by CSIS following anonymous leaks to the media in the fall of 2022 about foreign interference allegations.

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The document says the agency took the leaks “extremely seriously” because they posed a “direct threat” to the integrity of operations.

It also notes that in 2021, Chinese foreign interference activities were likely prompted by a Conservative campaign platform that was perceived as anti-China.