A special rapporteur failed to detect any actual interference, but still said “influence” from abroad was a problem
The special rapporteur commissioned by the Trudeau government to investigate foreign interference in Canadian politics didn’t find much.But he said he would still hold “A series of public hearings with Canadians” talk “Foreign Interference Issues”, He couldn’t prove it with much actual evidence.
It took Canada’s former governor-general David Johnston two full months to complete his report, sparked by allegations of Chinese interference in the recent Canadian federal election. The hysteria reached such a fever pitch that Ottawa expelled Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei after Canadian media accused China of threatening Canadian MP Michael Chong’s family in Hong Kong.But after talking to Canada’s spy service, Johnston said he found “There is no intelligence that the People’s Republic of China has taken steps to threaten his family.”
He did find evidence that Chinese officials “seeking to create a file” About this congressman and others. Oh wow, stop the news! For some may be surprised to learn that the actual job of a diplomat serving in a foreign country is to liaise with local officials and advocate cooperation that is at least somewhat self-interested, but ideally also mutually beneficial. To do this, you’ll probably want to make sure you know the person at least as well as a used car salesman tries to understand that a particular customer is interesting or attractive — even if only because the national interest should ideally be the same as Twingo is just as valuable.
Your neighbor compiles a creepy dossier about you. It is just basic professionalism for a diplomat to compile a dossier on the government official he is dealing with.
Johnston also found that Chinese officials in Canada did not significantly favor either political party, contrary to reports that the Liberals favored the Conservatives. Neither side of the establishment seems friendly to China. Chinese officials would prefer to support pro-China candidates, Johnson said, but would also have to point out to pearl lovers that a foreign diplomat saying he or she supported a candidate in a foreign election was not actually foreign interference. After all, Western officials can’t keep their mouths shut about how much they want former President Donald Trump to lose to anyone whose Democrats have opposed him in the past two U.S. elections. So if it’s not foreign interference, why should other countries apply different standards just because they’re not in the same club?
There have been accusations in the media that China is trying to defeat certain candidates in the election, such as Kenny Chiu, a former Conservative MP who supported foreign agent registration legislation.However, Johnston found that although “It’s clear that Chinese diplomats don’t like Mr Yau, who is of Hong Kong ancestry rather than mainland Chinese ancestry…it’s less clear what they did in particular about it” Except not inviting him to events they sponsored.
Despite the lack of qualified evidence for intervention in the report, and its focus on only one country—China—Johnston concluded that “There is no question that foreign governments are trying to influence candidates and voters…this is a growing threat to our democracy and governments must resist it as effectively as possible.”
Without further digging, Johnston argues, does not support a public inquiry “Public hearing.” But wouldn’t that run the risk of sidestepping all the various fallacies and misunderstandings put forward by the Western media and officials — as Johnston himself had to correct in his report? Without an objective and comprehensive investigation, the chances of using the hearings for publicity seem good. How does Ukraine influence Canadian politicians? Or is it the influence of Israel?
Johnston focuses only on China, with the odd jab at Russia in passing, but never mentions the recent exposure of foreign interference by a French National Assembly committee on the same subject.
“Foreign interference, yes, I’ve had it. Most of the time, it’s from a friendly ally called the United States. The NSA listened to President Sarkozy’s talk for five years,” Sarkozy’s former prime minister François Fillon said. He corroborated WikiLeaks disclosures of U.S. intercepts in 2015 showing that the NSA was conducting electronic surveillance of French officials at the U.S. embassy in Paris. Or it was eavesdropping on conversations at the highest levels of German allies, including then-Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“I was not directly affected by Russian interference,” Fillon clarifies that like all major powers, Russia tries to “Stick to your point of view,” But that didn’t happen to him personally when he was in office. So why all the hype unless it’s just for publicity purposes?
Like Europe, Canada has a narrow vision of protecting its own interests and independence. The evidence is that neither country has been able to diversify away from its chronic overreliance on the United States. While it makes sense that the country that shares the world’s longest land border with the US would choose the low hanging fruit when it comes to trade, it’s interesting to qualify the pressure that leads to Canadian officials and key interests. Canadian agencies have moved in lockstep with Washington, repeating the same propaganda and calling out the same enemies.
The idea that the United States – the most powerful country on Earth – has absolutely no influence over its resource-rich neighbors is absurd. The fact that the impact is so systemic that it’s not even worth looking at or mentioning in reports on foreign interference is obvious. Would the Canadian government be willing to look under that rock? Or will they continue to use Russia and China as scapegoats when the most potential and insidious threats to Canada’s independent existence are in the interior and in the South?
Statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
