O’Toole says Canadian intelligence found “active” voter suppression by Beijing – National | Globalnews.ca

Former Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole says Canada’s intelligence found an “active campaign of voter suppression” against him and his party in the 2021 election.

O’Toole made the comments Tuesday from the floor of the House of Commons, within which MPs are protected by parliamentary privilege from civil or criminal prosecution under freedom of speech provisions. His speech comes after a briefing with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) last week.

“I also believe my privileges as a Member and officer of Parliament were infringed by the government’s unwillingness or inability to act on the intelligence related to foreign interference,” O’Toole said.

“The briefing confirmed to me what I had long suspected – that my party, several of my caucus colleagues and myself were the target of a sophisticated misinformation and voter suppression campaign orchestrated by the People’s Republic of China before and during the 2021 general election.”

O’Toole led the Conservatives into the 2021 general election after winning the party leadership just a year before.

Part of O’Toole’s leadership pitch was to take a tough stance against Beijing, including recognizing the Chinese regime’s persecution of the country’s Uyghur minority as a genocide, repatriating and diversifying Canadian supply chains away from China, and cracking down on foreign influence.

Those pledges came through in the Conservatives’ 2021 election platform, which contained 31 references to “China” and 10 references to “Chinese.”

“We must stand up to the Communist government of China,” the platform read.

“The communist leadership represents a clear and rising threat to Canadian interests – and our values. They’ve abducted our citizens, targeted our economy, and intimidated members of the Chinese Canadian community.”

After the party’s disappointing performance in the 2021 election, O’Toole was attacked by the Chinese-Canadian Conservative Association (CCCA) – a group which purports to represent Conservatives of Chinese descent – who called on him to resign as leader.

A source close to O’Toole’s 2021 campaign told Global News that it was an active discussion within the party about how strong a stand to take against Beijing. The O’Toole campaign knew that taking a tough line on China’s communist government could cost them votes, or make them a target of Beijing.

Global News reported in December 2021 that the Conservatives had identified 13 ridings where they believe the party was targeted by foreign influence campaigns. A source told Global the party suspected mail-in ballot fraud, foreign funding of campaign workers, and illegal advertising – although the party had no evidence a foreign government was involved.

David Johnston, the former governor general appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a special rapporteur on foreign interference, recommended last week that the government not hold a public inquiry into the issue.

Johnston argued that the secret intelligence Canada has collected on foreign interference could not be aired in public, so a public inquiry would not be helpful. The opposition parties are still pushing the government to hold an inquiry despite Johnston’s recommendations.

In his report, Johnston said that officials were unable to tie misinformation about the Conservative campaign “to a state-sponsored source.”

“Mr. O’Toole continued to assert over the next several months that (the People’s Republic of China) interference cost the party eight or nine seats,” Johnston’s report read.

“It is hard to accept this assertion, which has been rejected by the (Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections) Task Force and the 2021 panel.”

Johnston has said he cannot disclose exactly what evidence he saw that led him to his conclusions, leaving unanswered questions about his report and the information underlying it.

With files from Marc-André Cossette

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