Justin Trudeau has taken every opportunity to assert that attempts at Chinese interference did not affect the outcome of the recent elections. The revelations may pile up, but the Prime Minister stands by and offers no further explanation. By keeping Canadians in the shadows and maintaining complete silence on the intelligence community, the government is nevertheless giving way to citizens’ fears and the inflammatory claims of Pierre Poilievre.

Last fall, Global News revealed that the Chinese communist regime tried to sponsor the election of 11 candidates (liberals and conservatives) in the 2019 elections. The affair triggered a scandal in the federal parliament. So last week, the globe and mail revealed that China had waged an extensive campaign to favor the election of a liberal minority government in 2021, as the party has long been seen as less hostile to Beijing.

“The results of the 2019 and 2021 elections are the results chosen by Canadian voters, period,” Justin Trudeau reiterated on Friday.

Either the defeat of eight or nine Conservative candidates — the party fears due to disinformation campaigns targeting the Sino-Canadian community on WeChat — would not have changed the color of the government elected 17 months ago. But a foreign attempt to change the course of Canada’s elections, be it isolated or even unsuccessful, remains worrying, political parties and pundits rightly respond.

However, the media had to disclose these interference efforts in order for them to come to light. The government, the security authorities and the Bundestag election observation group did not say a word about it in 2019 or 2021.

Which prompted Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre to state his recent error on Friday. Justin Trudeau “was aware of this interference,” he said. “He did absolutely nothing” and he “accepted it because the interference was in his favour,” he accused. Mr Poilievre even claimed that the Chinese authorities did so because they “knew” that Justin Trudeau would “prefer their interests over those of Canada”.

Dangerous words that are eroding public confidence in Canada’s democratic process, while the Conservative leader could have been content to criticize the government’s silence and demand answers that have so far been rejected.

The Risks of Silence

But through his laconicism, Justin Trudeau also allows such a political recovery to sow and even cement doubts.

“If these major national security issues are not discussed, they can be held hostage to challenge our voting system,” said Stephanie Carvin, an associate professor at Carleton University and a former analyst at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). This refusal by the government and the secret services to clarify the risks is, in his eyes, “extremely dangerous”. Because of a lack of understanding for the everyday context, the spirits can be overwhelmed by unexpected events.

Artur Wilczynski, a recently retired senior national security official, also laments a “systematic lack of transparency” on the part of the intelligence community. As a result, discussion of these issues in Canada is not as “mature” as it is in the United States, Britain, or Australia. “This lack of understanding, this lack of maturity in the debate, sets the stage for the manipulation of incidents for partisan purposes,” notes the professor, now at the University of Ottawa.

The agencies’ silence is partly due to logistical reasons. Gathering of information is done clandestinely, and disclosing the sources and methods could “burn” those resources. Also, intelligence does not always lead to criminal evidence that can be detailed in court. Disclosing the identity of the target persons can affect their rights in this context.

Nonetheless, transparency remains “fundamental” and can certainly be achieved “while preserving the secrecy it requires”, stresses Mr. Wilczynski.

The 2019 and 2021 election results are the results chosen by Canadian voters

Thirteen University of Ottawa professors noted last year that the “tradition of secrecy” in the intelligence community has become “outdated and counterproductive” and that more transparency is needed to help society withstand current threats.

Nor is there much political benefit in discussing these complex issues. No votes up for grabs, experts insist. They also recall that in the past, uncovering investigations was seen as having an impact on the electoral process. (The FBI against Hillary Clinton in 2016 or the RCMP against Ralph Goodale in 2005, neither led to criminal charges against the politicians involved.)

“It is indeed not an easy file to manage. There are nuances, challenges. But it is an elected government. He should have the answers,” argues Professor Carvin.

A shared responsibility

This culture of secrecy is not unique to the Trudeau administration. That Stephen Harper was in the same boat was recently noted by Richard Fadden, who advised the two prime ministers on national security issues. On the CBC broadcaster, he also called on the government to be more transparent.

Justin Trudeau’s team says they are working on concrete responses to other countries’ efforts to intervene. The Liberals have been exploring the possibility of creating a registry of foreign agents operating in Canada who seek to influence public policy or governments for more than a year.

But this government would also have to break the institutional silence on national security issues to discuss them, even if it has no announcement to make in this area. And so reassure the Canadians who are asking more and more questions. It is no longer enough to accuse the Conservatives of playing the game of foreign opponents by undermining voter confidence. Liberals, too, must respond to these legitimate concerns, dispelling these doubts as to their origin.

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