'Witting' Canada officials aid foreign meddling - report

Some of Canada's members of parliament are "witting or semi-witting" participants in foreign meddling, a Canadian government report alleges.

The report by the the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) cites "particularly concerning examples of behaviour by a few parliamentarians", including "knowingly or through willful blindness" accepting funds or benefits from foreign governments.

It further alleges these Candian officials worked to "improperly influence parliamentary colleagues or parliamentary business" at the direction of foreign actors.

China and India are the "most active perpetrators," it says.

While the report does not identify Canadians allegedly implicated in the affair, it chides Ottawa for not reining in the "deeply unethical" behaviours.

“This slow response to a known threat was a serious failure and one from which Canada may feel the consequences for years to come,” it writes.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formed the 11-person NSICOP in 2017 to examine foreign interference efforts. Though it is not a committee of Canada's parliament, it is composed of MPs and senators with top security clearance.

Its 92-page report released on Monday was commissioned in the wake of Canadian media reporting last year on the extent of Chinese meddling and disinformation campaigns in the country. Mr Trudeau's government said at the time that the NSICOP was "well placed" to investigate the matter.

The committee found that foreign governments "conduct sophisticated and pervasive foreign interference specifically targeting Canada's democratic processes and institutions, occurring before, during and after elections and in all orders of government".

The report was censored prior to its public release to remove what the government has described as “injurious or privileged information”.

But summaries of the redacted information detail “two specific instances where PRC (People's Republic of China) officials allegedly interfered in the leadership races of the Conservative Party of Canada”. It also described a former MP who was "maintaining a relationship with a foreign intelligence officer”.

Other examples in the report include “how Indian officials developed and built a network of contacts through whom India conducts interference activities". It also described a scheme where Indian officials were "likely reimbursing a proxy who had provided funds to candidates of two federal parties”.

"These activities continue to pose a significant threat to national security, and to the overall integrity of Canada's democracy," the report concludes.

The report concedes, however, that its conclusions are "unlikely to lead to criminal charges" despite it describing behaviour that may have been illegal.

It also takes aim at Mr Trudeau's Liberal government for being aware of these issues since at least 2018 and gathering intelligence but failing to "implement an effective response".

Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc, a member of Mr Trudeau's government, said in a statement that the government welcomes the report but disagrees with several aspects, including how some intelligence was interpreted.

The government last month introduced legislation that would accomplish many of the reforms laid out by the report.