Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified before a probe into foreign election interference on Wednesday that China’s meddling in the past two elections did not change the outcomes.
Trudeau insisted it was “improbable” that China preferred any particular Canadian party, despite substantial indications that Beijing helped his Liberal Party defeat challengers who would have been tougher on the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
The most obnoxious of these interference efforts targeted Conservative candidates whose seats were ultimately won by members of Trudeau’s Liberal Party, including Member of Parliament Kenny Chiu, who China aggressively targeted in 2021 and who lost his seat to a Liberal.
CSIS also found the PRC may have coerced Chinese students in Canada to support a preferred Liberal Party candidate, Han Dong, by threatening “their student visas would be in jeopardy and there could be consequences for their families back in the PRC” if they did not comply.
