Canadian Foreign Interference (General)

[The Bread Guy]

New York Times' take

Trudeau Government Left Canada Vulnerable to Foreign Interference

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should have acted quicker to protect Canadian elections from outside meddling, a government commission said, shaking trust in democratic institutions.

www.nytimes.com

Also archived here.

 

[The Bread Guy]

FYI, responding to a request, a new thread discussing just the disinformation elements of Hogue & beyond has been created here ...

Thread 'Disinformation: Hogue & Beyond (split from Foreign Interference thread)'

28 Jan 2025

The inquiry's report said while allegations of interference involving elected officials nabbed the most headlines and motivated debate in the House of Commons, misinformation and disinformation "pose an even greater threat to democracy."

Actors spread disinformation about candidates and elected officials who express views that diverge from their own interests to try and prevent these candidates from getting elected, and to affect policy choices and positions, the report found.

It calls disinformation "noxious" and "powerful," and says it is used as a retaliatory tactic.

I'd love...

• Lumber
• Replies: 25
• Forum: Canadian Politics

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Army.ca Staff

 

[The Bread Guy]

Aaaaaaand for the record, Team Red's info-machine statement:

Statement from Minister Sahota and Minister McGuinty on the Final Report from the Commissioner for the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions - Canada.ca

Today, the Honourable Ruby Sahota, Minister of Democratic Institutions and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, and the Honourable David McGuinty, Minister of Public Safety, issued the following statement: "We extend our gratitude to Commissioner...

www.canada.ca

From the release:

... Today, the Government is taking further action to protect our election integrity with the following investments:

• $44 million, starting in 2025-26, and $9.8 million ongoing, for the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, to ensure a sufficient investigation capacity to protect against persistent threats to the electoral process, such as foreign interference and disinformation
• $27.5 million, starting in 2025-26, with a temporary increase of $2 million in 2025-26, for Canadian Heritage’s Digital Citizen Initiative to fund projects that build citizen resilience against online disinformation
• $5.95 million, starting in 2024-25, for Global Affairs Canada’s Rapid Response Mechanism to bolster its capacity to monitor and strengthen defenses of the Canadian open-source information ecosystem and keep Canadians informed of possible foreign interference during the election.
  
  (...)

More from the Commission (volumes 1 & 2 shared for download here):

• "VOLUME 3 -- The Government’s Capacity to Detect, Deter and Counter Foreign Interference (Facts and Analysis 1/2)"
• "VOLUME 4 -- The Government’s Capacity to Detect, Deter and Counter Foreign Interference (Facts and Analysis 2/2)"
• "VOLUME 5 -- Recommendations to Better Protect Against Foreign Interference in Canada’s Democratic Institutions and Processes"
• "VOLUME 6 -- The Commission’s Public Consultation"
• "VOLUME 7 -- The Commission’s Process and Annexes"

 

[JLB50]

This just out ...

Commission Releases Final Report on Foreign Interference

foreigninterferencecommission.ca

Late edit to add executive summary & full report.

I pretty much read the summary and briefly scanned the full 122 page document. So far it looks to me like there’s little in it that really seems to say much. But I’m wondering whether the commission would honestly tell us if there is or had been serious interference in our elections and government operations by bad people. I realize we have to be careful so as not to tar and feather the innocent. Maybe reading the full document will remove any worries I may have about traitors, spies and saboteurs right under our noses. Then again…maybe not.

 

[Good2Golf]

I pretty much read the summary and briefly scanned the full 122 page document. So far it looks to me like there’s little in it that really seems to say much. But I’m wondering whether the commission would honestly tell us if there is or had been serious interference in our elections and government operations by bad people. I realize we have to be careful so as not to tar and feather the innocent. Maybe reading the full document will remove any worries I may have about traitors, spies and saboteurs right under our noses. Then again…maybe not.

I expected more from the report.




Edit to add: Sure was some softball doing a (very) soft call out of the NSIA of the day (Jody Thomas, ex-DM DND) on Page 12 of Vol 5, Chapter 19. Report PDF doesn’t allow text copy so you have to go to the Vol 5 doc and go to page 12 to see the crap job Thomas did informing (or not) the PM what was going on. Also Justice Hogue does a soft call on Trudeau for not being…transparent….with the NSIA’s direction and responsibilities. Recommendations 6 says the NSIA should have terms of reference and/or a mandate letter. Maybe a retroactive letter, so that people know what a crap job Thomas did…and perhaps by mild extension, appreciate whey DND has been such a crap show of late…

https://foreigninterferencecommission.ca/fileadmin/report_volume_5.pdf

 

[Fishbone Jones]

I never expect anything substantial from this government. The only things they're good at is hiding documents, stealing our money and gaslighting.

I haven't, and likely won't, read the report. I'll get what I need from the discussions.

 

[ArmyRick]

I never expect anything substantial from this government. The only things they're good at is hiding documents, stealing our money and gaslighting.

I haven't, and likely won't, read the report. I'll get what I need from the discussions.

Domenic Leblanc had withheld some documents because he felt they were irrelevant

 

[The Bread Guy]

I pretty much read the summary and briefly scanned the full 122 page document. So far it looks to me like there’s little in it that really seems to say much. But I’m wondering whether the commission would honestly tell us if there is or had been serious interference in our elections and government operations by bad people.

I haven't read the whole Volume 2 yet, but it does lay out in a fair bit more detail the allegations against various campaigns and situations, so far naming names that have already been made public in other places.

... Maybe reading the full document will remove any worries I may have about traitors, spies and saboteurs right under our noses. Then again…maybe not.

Depends how much you trust those who poured information into the sausage machine and the sausage maker.

I expected more from the report.

View attachment 90838

Don't blame you for the doubts - let's see how much more info we see/hear if/when PP becomes PM.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Domenic Leblanc had withheld some documents because he felt they were irrelevant

The most corrupt and incorrigible government in the history of Canada

 

[RangerRay]

Terry Glavin’s take: it’s not treason if it’s done in the open.

No Functioning Government: A Remedy.

Meanwhile, no evidence for treason charges, Hogue says, but here's guest post to explain the prime minister's torching of constitutional law.

therealstory.substack.com

I’ve just begun the work of devouring Foreign Interference Commissioner Madame Justice Marie-Josée Hogue’s seven-volume, 858-page mordvåben of a report, released this morning in Ottawa. Everybody will be spinning this to one purpose or another, and my own guess so far is that the report won’t contain much of substance that hasn’t come to light already, although “political implications” should be expected.

My colleagues in the journalism racket seem to be settling on versions of this line: No 'traitors' in Parliament, foreign interference inquiry finds. That’s about as low a bar as it gets: ‘Hey, at least they’re not traitors,’ and strictly speaking, that’s a fair opinion.

Having followed the “foreign interference” file as closely as any journalist in this country and for longer than almost everyone else, I can barely bring myself to find this particular conclusion newsworthy, even. There are reasons.

As I noted last June in the National Post, in Trudeau's Chinese collaboration has been in broad daylight all along: The treason provisions in the Criminal Code are antiquated and barely enforceable, and in any case, treason by way of collaboration in foreign interference operations requires that the conduct be clandestine.

The thing is, Justin Trudeau’s postnational Liberals never saw anything untoward about open collaborations with Beijing’s United Front Work Department operatives in this country. And so Trudeau and his ministers have tried to make a secret of it (to the point of perjury) only when their conduct attracts unfavorable attention.

Besides: It isn't 'foreign interference' if the culprits are willing MPs. As for the “Traitors on Parliament Hill” scenario, see this edition of the Real Story newsletter: NSICOP: Enemies On Parliament Hill; You want names? You've come to the right place.

I’ll have more on Hogue’s findings later. I’ll also be speaking on this panel next Monday - Transnational Repression in Canada: Digital Threats from the Indo-Pacific. The event is sponsored by the Asia Pacific Foundation and the Montreal Institute for Global Security. I’ll be joined by former B.C. premier Ujjal Dosanjh, Joanna Chiu and local hero and Port Coquitlam mayor Brad West. Moderated by the APF’s tremendous Vina Nadjibullah.

 

[Good2Golf]

Glavin’s take on the putrid meat being kept deep within the Governmentally-privileged bowels of NSICOP reports, never to be seen by Canadians (at least before October 27, 2025) is clear. Hogue was only marginally better than Johnston.

NSICOP: Enemies On Parliament Hill

You want names? You've come to the right place. You want criminal charges? That's exceedingly unlikely. A link-rich primer for what's to come.

therealstory.substack.com

Le sigh…

 

[CBH99]

So it candidates accept Chinese money to help fund their election campaigns, that is considered a major security issue because we don't want our elected officials in the pocket of a foreign adversary...

But if the WEF helps candidates get elected, who then push the goals of the WEF onto the citizenry despite the citizenry overwhelmingly wanting something different for themselves, we just ignore it... (and anybody who does question it gets labelled a conspiracy theorist, which helps shield the relationship from the real scrutiny it deserves)

...

If any potential leader of the country sat on the Board of Trustees at Huawei, we would have serious concerns. There is a reason why that company has been banned from bidding on our infrastructure projects, so if someone looking to be elected to office was that cozy with them, there would be some justified skepticism & questioning of their loyalty.

But if someone wanting to be elected sits on the Board of Trustees at the WEF - and organization that has literally bragged about "penetrating the cabinets" of western governments & brags about 'their people' implementing the organization's goals onto an unwitting world, questioning that candidates loyalty makes them a 'conspiracy theorist'

...

Red China = Bad Mmm'kay

Crazy Nazi-led cabal of government/industry leaders who have mostly, quite openly, stated their loyalty is to Davos = totally fine & we're all paranoid nutjobs for raising an eyebrow

...

If we wanted proof of foreign interference in our politics, look no further than the WEF. Currently ensuring that whoever is ultimately selected as leader of the LPC, it is one of their people...

Aka 'penetrating the cabinet of a western country' right infront of our faces.

...

Is China a concern when it comes ro foreign interference? Obviously yes

But I would argue the WEF fits the bill also, and for some reason we just gloss right over them.

 

[Deleted member 175000]

Crazy Nazi-led cabal

Not liking the agenda of an organization of foreign elites, or their outsized influence: rational opinion

Believing the quoted: Nutjob stuff

 

[RangerRay]

Some more interesting takes on the Hogue Report.

Ten takeaways from the Hogue Commission

Highlights of the foreign interference inquiry’s final report.

bobmackin.substack.com

How Justice Hogue’s Report Failed to Hold People to Account: Former RCMP Investigator

Lack of consequence undermines the broader goals of justice and reform

www.thebureau.news

 

[Rifleman62]

SHOCKING Evidence About Compromised MP's in PLAIN SIGHT - Liberal Chair FACT CHECKED on His LIES!​

 

[ArmyRick]

And wait, theres more!

 

[Good2Golf]

‘We won’t tell you the 11 compromised/colluding MPs and Senators were, but trust is, it didn’t materially change things. Canada will ensure it does better, trust us.’

 

[QV]

Anytime they bring in someone like Hogue or Rouleau, you know it's going to be an absolute white wash.

 

[RangerRay]

More criticism of the report.

Critics aplenty for Hogue Commission’s final report

Some say the foreign interference inquiry downplayed the problem or lacks accountability. Others say now is the time for the Liberal government to act on the recommendations.

bobmackin.substack.com

And more on Project Sidewinder from the 90’s and issues with the lack of port policing still being an issue.

Exclusive: Briefings to Liberal Government on Chinese Infiltration of Vancouver Port and Canada’s Opioid Scourge Ignored

Trump Tariffs Loom as Critics Decry Ottawa's “Fox in the Hen House” Approach to Border Security

www.thebureau.news

 

[Good2Golf]

That Trudeau’s government has deliberately stalled implementing the legislation from bill C-70, should tell Canadians all they need to know about the issue. PM Carney, with Jagmeet Singh’s support will continue to delay implementing the Foreign Influence Transparency and Accountability Act until its so late that it won’t be effective for the 27 October 2025 election.