Elections Canada Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault told MPs on Tuesday that he has not received any reports of Chinese interference in the 2019 federal election.
Perrault’s comments were made in response to Global News reporting that China allegedly interfered in Canada’s 2019 federal election, in part by funding the campaigns of at least 11 candidates, and that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was informed on the charges in January. CTV News has not independently verified the Global News reports, which Trudeau has also disputed.
“In my view, there is no reason to believe that it was not a free and fair election,” Perrault told the House of Commons Affairs and Procedure Committee several times during his hour-long appearance on Tuesday .
“I have not received any reports about specific cases of non-compliance with the law or specific cases of Chinese interference in elections,” he also said.
Perrault said he has the utmost respect for the media, but it would be “premature to draw conclusions” from media reports apart from investigations by the Elections Canada commissioner.
In a statement to CTV News, a spokeswoman for the Commissioner of Elections Canada (CCE), Caroline Simard, confirmed that her office has received a complaint from the Bloc Québécois related to allegations of foreign interference and that it reviews all complaints who receives
“The CCE takes all complaints seriously and, where appropriate, conducts a thorough investigation. Only at the end of a review or investigation, and only in cases where formal compliance or enforcement action is taken, is limited information made available to the public and media,” spokeswoman Myriam Crousette said in a e-mail.
Meanwhile, questioned by reporters, Trudeau pointed to the independent committee that was in place during the 2019 and 2021 federal elections to ensure there was no interference from foreign entities. In both cases, Trudeau said that body assured him that “the integrity of our elections was not compromised.”
He also repeated that he was never told about China’s funding of Canadian election candidates.
“He has never given me any information about China’s funding of federal candidates,” he said.
Canada’s relationship with China took center stage last week after a tense exchange between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trudeau at the G20 summit in Bali was captured on video.
In the video, Xi tells Trudeau that it was “inappropriate” for him to share with the media what the pair discussed during a private meeting. Earlier in the week, Canadian officials told reporters traveling with the delegation that Trudeau had discussed China’s alleged interference activities in Canada with Xi.
Referring to Trudeau’s statement that he was never informed about China’s election interference during the 2019 election, Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman tweeted that “it’s hard to imagine complaining to the president about any which you were not informed about.” Since the reports first emerged, Tories have called for the government to be more honest about the allegations.
At Tuesday’s committee meeting, Perrault explained that “eyes were on” ahead of the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, in part because of concerns about possible cases of foreign interference. But he said no reports had been made to his office about specific cases.
Justice Minister David Lametti was also asked about reports he was going to the cabinet meeting on Tuesday. He told reporters that the security services are taking the situation seriously.
“It’s a serious problem,” Lametti said. “When you’re dealing with matters of national security, you have to move in a very cautious way.”
He added: “Obviously there is a need for transparency, but there is also a need for our security services to protect their sources, to protect the methods in which they gather their intelligence, all of that is important, so we have to act with prudence”.