Foreign interference in democratic elections won't go away
But Canada can take steps to limit its effectiveness
In the age of social media, platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok, and a host of others make it relatively easy for foreign actors to attempt to interfere in democratic elections in Western democracies, and it is in their interest to do so. The desire of Communist China or Russia to expand their influence and build support for their ideology encourages interference in democratic elections, and it is a lot less costly to have influence through social media than through troop deployments.
Britney Kaiser became famous for exposing the effectiveness of Cambridge Analytica in tipping the scales in foreign elections using social media (largely Facebook). Political parties can’t escape the power of social media and must embrace it to have a ghost of a chance to get their message to the electorate.
Canada benefits from a comprehensive and well-drafted Elections Act which is a model for any Western democracy. Our Elections Act has many prohibitions on misconduct and an important one is section 91:
Donald Trump could not have claimed Barack Obama was not an American citizen (the “birthing scandal”) in Canada without serious consequences.
Our Elections Act would have prevented many of the claims of ballot tampering in the 2020 United States Presidential election
Canada’s rules for polling stations are world class.
But s. 349 which deals with foreign money is quite limited, confined to limits on “third parties” - a term not defined but which presumably does not include candidates or their party.
That leaves the door wide open for parties and candidates to solicit donations (or simply receive monies) from foreign actors who wish to affect the outcome of an election. The recent scandal rocking Parliament Hill over Chinese interference in the most recent federal election demonstrates the frailty of the Elections Act in this area. Justin Trudeau has appointed a distinguished family friend as “rapporteur” to investigate Chinese interference and present a report which is certain to find that whatever Chinese involvement took place it did not affect the outcome of the election despite the circumstantial evidence that funds from China found their way solely to Liberal candidates.
That election is over and the value of the “rapporteur” is limited by that reality and the “scandal” will turn into a bunch of shouting matches in Question Period and testy interactions between Trudeau and journalists who lean right with opposing rhetoric from journalist who lean left. It will be a tempest in a teapot.
But s. 349 of the Elections Act could be amended and might include this language:
349.03 No candidate and no party shall accept donations or contributions to election campaigns where the source of the funds is a foreign entity and any candidate or prospective candidate found to have knowingly breached this provision shall be guilty of an offense and deemed ineligible to stand for election for any party or as an independent.
Ottawa is rife with lawyers that could a better job of drafting than mine, but Canada would benefit from putting an end to foreign money influencing Canadian elections regardless of the motives of entity providing the funds. It might put an end to Liberal party fund-raisers travelling to the Waldorf Astoria in New York to host a fund-raising event that skirts around the limits on donations that Canada imposes on individuals and corporations, or similar conduct by any other party.
Canada needs to protect its democracy against foreign influence. There are few things more precious than our freedoms. Our Prime Minister should not be defensive about Chinese interference but should be forceful in taking steps to end it. Trudeau’s defensiveness is likely because the Chinese interference supported Liberal candidates but is inappropriate for a Prime Minister regardless of who the interference supported. Protect democracy Mr. Trudeau, not your own ego.
Foreign interference in democratic elections won't go away
Why did he ignore this ?
https://torontosun.com/opinion/goldstein-trudeau-ignored-foreign-interference-warnings-from-his-own-mps
The Liberals have deep roots into China going back decades with Desmarais/ Power Corp / Maurice Strong
Perhaps they started off innocently, for commercial purposes. However, the world has changed between us and Beijing in recent years .
Yet 200,000 mail in ballots were not counted in the last election; this never ever happened before the Pandemic.
More than half of donations in Trudeaus Montreal riding came from BC with communist names; all of them canadian citizens.