The chief of Canada’s spy service stated Thursday that there was no serious foreign electoral involvement in the previous two elections. Still, media stories claiming secret intelligence on China’s influence are under review.
David Vigneault, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), told a parliamentary committee on the foreign election interference that the 2019 and 2021 elections were not tampered with.
Vigneault said he “robustly exchanged” with both committees and “based on my information and my expertise,” agreed with their decisions.
He refused to corroborate recent unconfirmed Canadian media stories citing unidentified intelligence sources claiming Beijing attempted to intervene in both elections. Instead, Vigneault said CSIS and other domestic security partners were probing leak origins.
“The bread and butter of an intelligence operation is our capacity to gather, maintain, and exploit secrets with the right individuals,” he stated. “When that competence is compromised, domestic and international partners lose trust.”
The “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing partnership includes Canada.
China interfered, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the votes were unaffected. On Monday, Trudeau denied that China funded a Liberal MP.
China says it won’t interfere in Canada’s domestic affairs.
Last week, Canadian opposition parties pushed for a thorough public probe into foreign electoral influence, notably by China, which Trudeau has not yet supported.
The committee that heard testimony on Thursday debated a move to expand the investigation.
Vigneault said Thursday that CSIS would participate in a public probe, but sharing sensitive material would be a “key challenge,” echoing Canada’s top security advisor Jody Thomas.
