Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, has called for an investigation into foreign participation in his country’s elections and has announced that he will appoint an independent special investigator to look into claims of Chinese meddling.
According to unidentified intelligence sources cited in Canadian media reports detailing suspected Chinese political interference plans for 2021 and 2019, Trudeau has been under pressure to take action.
A public investigation has been requested by leaders of opposing political parties. China has rejected any electoral involvement, calling the charges “purely baseless and defamatory”.
In an interview with reporters on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, Mr Trudeau said the claims undermining Canada’s “sovereignty” are disturbing, and “strike us to our very core as Canadians”.
“Today, we’re taking even further action to protect our democratic institutions, to defend their integrity, and to uphold and strengthen confidence in our democracy. We will always take foreign attempts at undermining our democracy very seriously,” Trudeau stated in a statement on Monday.
The prime minister declared that he had requested that the national security committee of the parliamentary conduct an inquiry to “evaluate the state of foreign influence” in the nation’s federal election system.
Moreover, Trudeau stated that he will name an “eminent Canadian” with the authority to suggest measures for “preserving and improving” democracy in Canada, such as the holding of a formal full investigation or another independent audit process.
The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency of Canada will additionally look into how the nation’s intelligence services managed the risk of outside intervention during the elections and present its conclusions to Parliament.
He continued by saying that Canada has long been aware of China’s, Iran’s, and Russia’s attempts at involvement.
The nations “have attempted to intervene not only in our democracy but our country in general,” along with a number of other non-state entities.
