Canada needs an inquiry into Chinese election interference: ex-spymaster

Canada needs a public inquiry into allegations of Chinese election interference, Canada former spymaster says. Speaking in an interview with The West Block‘s Mercedes Stephenson, airing Sunday, Richard Fadden, the former head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and former national security advisor to Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau, said he “can’t see any compelling reason not to” hold a public inquiry. “I think in this case, the allegations are so serious they need to be looked into,” Fadden told Stephenson. “I think a public inquiry is really the route to go.” Read more: Liberals ignored CSIS warning on 2019 candidate accused in Chinese interference probe — sources Read next: Part of the Sun breaks free and forms a strange vortex, baffling scientists His comments come after a recent Globe and Mail article saying China deployed a “sophisticated strategy” in the 2021 election to defeat Conservative candidates and attempt to support the federal Liberals towards a minority government, citing national security memos.

The report followed months of exclusive reporting by Global News into allegations of attempted Chinese interference, starting with a Nov.

7, 2022, report that Canadian intelligence officials had warned Trudeau that China had allegedly been targeting Canada. The vast campaign of foreign interference allegedly included funding a clandestine network of at least 11 federal candidates running in the 2019 election, according to Global News sources.

On Dec. 21, 2022, Global News reported that an unredacted 2020 national security document alleged that Beijing used an extensive network of community groups to conceal the flow of funds between Chinese officials and Canadian members of an election