The Chinese government tried to influence Canadian Chinese voters in the last election but did not violate election laws, Canada’s election watchdog has concluded.
In an Aug. 19 report released Tuesday by the Commission of Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Canadian Politics, Elections Canada investigators concluded that the Chinese government encouraged Chinese Canadian voters to vote against the Conservative Party (CPC) and then-Conservative MP Kenny Chiu in the 2021 election.
Chiu won the Steveston-Richmond East riding in British Columbia in 2019 but lost to the Liberal candidate in 2021.
“These efforts were motivated by elements of the Chinese Communist Party’s election platform and the actions and utterances of Congressman Kenny Chiu, and were used to bolster claims that the platform and Congressman Chiu are anti-China and encourage anti-Chinese discrimination and racism,” the report said.
“These messages were disseminated repeatedly through social media, chat groups, posts and Chinese-language online, print and radio media. [Greater Vancouver Area]”
The message had an impact on voters, according to the report.
“According to Chinese Canadians interviewed, this has sparked widespread fear among the electorate and raised fears of retaliatory measures from Chinese authorities if a Communist Party of China government is elected,” the report said.
“This includes possible interference by Chinese authorities with travel to and from China, as well as action against family members and business associates in China.”
According to the report, none of those interviewed would name specific voters who had been influenced by anti-CCP messaging.
Investigators concluded that the disruption did not violate any laws.
“These messages were reviewed and found to not violate the law,” they wrote, adding that the Supreme Court has emphasized the importance of free speech in elections.
“Investigators are recommending that the investigation conclude that there is insufficient evidence to reach the threshold (probability of suspicion) required to open a formal investigation.”
The report was among the documents submitted when the chief electoral commissioner took to the stand on Tuesday before the inquiry committee, which is currently holding its second phase of hearings.
The inquiry, led by Judge Marie-Josee Hogue, was set up in response to media reports accusing China of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
In his first report, released in May, Hogue concluded that there may have been foreign interference in a small number of precincts but that it did not affect the overall outcome of the election.
The second phase of the investigation will focus on the extent to which the government is prepared to counter foreign interference in elections and how that capacity has evolved over time.
In testimony Tuesday, Elections Canada chair Caroline Simard and executive director Carmen Boucher outlined steps their offices have taken to address foreign interference in Canadian elections and the plans they are implementing for the next election.
Boucher said the commissioner’s office is working with agencies including the Communications Security Executive (CSE), the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the RCMP to identify misinformation and the use of artificial intelligence and “deep fakes.”
Boucher said he is also closely watching elections in other countries. For example, in the recent election in Slovakia, voters Deepfake voice call.
“When people think of deepfakes and artificial intelligence, they tend to think of video,” Boucher said in the study, “but they can actually be audio-generated.”
Earlier, Reps. Garnet Genuis and John McKay testified at the inquiry that they had been targeted in Cyberpixel attacks as a result of their association with groups that take positions the Chinese government dislikes.
The attack targeted MacKay’s parliamentary mobile phone, while Genuis’ personal emails stored on his personal mobile phone, and they said they feared the attack could be used to target people they trust, such as overseas MPs who are critical of a particular government.
The lawmakers say they should have been informed of the attack when the FBI first provided information to the Canadian government and that they should be provided with more cybersecurity assistance.
