Several states – not just China alone – are trying to influence voting in Canada, according to Erin O’Toole, former leader of the Conservative Party and Member of Parliament from Durham Riding.
“There’s been multiple countries trying to interfere in our elections – China, Russia, North Korea, probably a few countries in the Middle East as well. I think the most effective have been China and Russia,” O’Toole told Durham Post.
“Russia just wants chaos. They just want us fighting, to undermine democracy,” he added.
“China actually has some objectives where they want Members of Parliament who are sceptical of Beijing in highly populated Chinese communities – they want them taken out. They want pro-Beijing voices, and that’s very, very dangerous for our democracy,” he pointed out.
O’Toole has been raising the issue of China’s interference in the 2021 general elections when he had led the Conservatives.
“Let me be crystal clear: Beijing’s interference in our elections did not change the result,” O’Toole emphasized.
“This is something I’m raising because we have to have more safeguards, and Canadians need to be aware – particularly Chinese Canadians in targeted areas like the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) and the Greater Vancouver Region. Between seven and 12 seats were directly impacted to the point that I believe we lost the seat due to interference. And those are in the Markham-Richmond Hill areas of the GTA and in the Richmond Tri-cities area of British Columbia,” he pointed out.
O’Toole said he is going to be talking more about this over time, “not because I’m crying about the election result. This is going to continue, and if we don’t prepare better and educate people that they need to not trust all the news sources they are reading, it’s going to take hold”.
It would be helpful to have actual evidence of how the interference was implemented.