ottawa –
The deputy foreign minister told the federal inquiry on Friday that heads of missions around the world will be briefed on the “acceptable diplomatic activity” Canada expects during the next general election.
Prime Minister David Morrison has announced a meeting with diplomats at Canada’s International Affairs Center next month to consider “exactly where the line is” between legitimate foreign influence and unwelcome interference. He said it would be held.
He said Canada intends to communicate “clearly” to its diplomatic missions in Ottawa and consulates-general across the country what it considers to be appropriate diplomatic activity.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said more could be done to sensitize MPs about what interactions with foreign diplomats are like.
“In the social world, most MPs are not from the metropolitan area, and most elected MPs have probably never been invited to dinner at a diplomat’s home,” he said.
As a result, steps could be taken to warn lawmakers “about what is acceptable and where diplomatic actions may cross the line.”
Canada is due to hold a general election sometime next year, but with the minority Liberal government running an increasingly fractious parliament, it could happen almost anytime.
The latest hearings in the Foreign Interference Investigation focus on the lead agencies’ practices in detecting and countering foreign interference.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his colleagues at the Canadian International Affairs Commission provided insight Friday into how the department has navigated conflicts with China and India in recent years, including episodes of interference.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke of the “sometimes difficult distinction” between foreign influence, which is what all countries want, and foreign interference, which crosses the line because of its coercive or covert nature.
He said some federal officials do not always see eye to eye with the Canadian Security Intelligence Agency when it comes to labeling certain activities as foreign interference.
Mr Morrison said in some cases security services had “absolute and rock-solid information” and in other cases there was no conclusive information based on a single source.
“I’m glad we live in a country where the picture is inconclusive or incomplete, because I think it makes us safer,” he said. But he added that the best results are achieved through triage and comparative consideration, “not when intelligence agencies automatically have the final say, for example, but when things are considered carefully.”
Mr Morrison on Friday provided a new perspective on a significant episode that was brought to the public’s attention by leaks to the media.
In May 2023, the federal government confirmed a newspaper report that Canada’s spy agency had received information that the Chinese government was considering ways to blackmail Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family in 2021.
The Chinese government’s action follows Chong’s successful support of a House of Commons motion that would recognize the Chinese government’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China as genocide.
Shortly after the incident became public last year, the Liberal government expelled Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei.
During questioning on Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Mr. Zhao was not expelled from Canada because of foreign interference with Mr. Chong.
He said officials had already taken a “series of gradual steps” with China and had been discussing the possibility of expulsions as officials months before the May 2023 announcement.
“That was the direction of the trend. The activity we were concerned about didn’t stop. So all options were on the table.”
According to a May 2023 memorandum signed by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and submitted to the inquiry on Friday, Canada has reported foreign interference against Chinese officials through diplomatic correspondence more than 30 times since January 2021 and four times since fall 2022. I have raised it.
Although the media coverage of Mr. Zhao’s activities is inaccurate, there is evidence that despite repeated warnings, China continues to interfere in Canada, or that some of Mr. Zhao’s activities amount to foreign interference. said there was no doubt.
Efforts to persuade the Chinese government to voluntarily withdraw Zhao from Canada failed.
Ultimately, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that the media revelations in May 2023 prompted the department to “help us to ensure that we have the maximum impact both on China and on other countries that we may be monitoring.” “It gave us an opportunity to expel them on favorable terms, and we took advantage of that opportunity.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 4, 2024.