Trudeau Pledges ‘Disinfo’ Crackdown Amid Claims of Chinese Election Meddling on Behalf of His Party

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reacts during a press conference with Chinese Premi
WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images
Chris Tomlinson

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced his government will be setting aside $5.5 million to combat “disinformation” as he struggles with accusations of benefitting from Chinese Communist Party election interference.

Prime Minister Trudeau announced the $5.5 million investment into “combatting disinformation” on Monday at a press conference in Ottawa saying, “I can announce were are investing 5.5 million dollars to build capacity of civil society organisations to combat disinformation.”

“Because we know disinformation often generated abroad can be a real threat to our elections and it’s a threat that the federal government cannot combat alone,” he added.

While it is unknown which organisations and groups will benefit from the $5.5 million, the Trudeau government has a history of funding questionable groups and individuals in recent years.

Among those who were handed Trudeau government cash, was alleged “anti-hate” activist Leith Marouf who was revealed to be a prolific antisemite on social media.

Marouf’s group, the Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC), saw its funding cut in August of last year after Housing and Diversity and Inclusion Minister Ahmed Hussen called his statements “reprehensible and vile.”

Trudeau has also given large sums of cash to the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN), which came under fire for attempting to link the former flag of Canada that flew during World War Two with hatred, calling it a “hate-promoting symbol” as part of a government-funded school handbook project.

The Canadian Liberal government has decried “disinformation” in the past as well and has been accused of peddling disinformation themselves, particularly regarding an attempt to ban hunting firearms last year.

Trudeau’s press conference on Monday also saw the Prime Minister address major concerns over foreign election interference from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), including allegations that his Liberal Party directly benefitted from the alleged interference in the last two federal elections.

The allegations emerged from leaks from the Canadian Secret Intelligence Service (CSIS), which claimed to have warned Trudeau about Chinese attempts to interfere in the last two elections.

When previously confronted on the topic, Trudeau dodged questions and even made bizarre statements regarding anti-Asian hatred in response to questions regarding MP Han Dong, who was specifically named by the CSIS leakers.

MP Dong is alleged to have benefitted from the CCP busing in Chinese international students with fake addresses to support Dong’s nomination as the candidate for the Liberals in the 2019 election.

Trudeau is said to not only have ignored the warnings from CSIS but informed Dong that the intelligence agency was investigating him.

Others have also noted Dong has been absent from Canadian parliament votes condemning the CCP regime over its treatment of the Uyghurs, despite being present in parliament for other votes on the same day.

Initially, Trudeau attempted to handle the brewing scandal by launching an investigation into those who leaked the confidential information from CSIS, with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) confirming Monday that it had begun an investigation over violations of the Security of Information Act (SOIA).

On Monday, during his Ottawa press conference, Trudeau announced that while he would not be launching a full inquiry into Chinese election meddling, something that has been demanded by opposition parties, he would name a special rapporteur to investigate the matter.

The role of the rapporteur will be to determine whether or not to recommend a formal inquiry, judicial review, or other probes into the allegations.

So far, the rapporteur has not been named, but Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leader Pierre Poilievre has previously expressed concerns Trudeau may appoint a sympathetic figure to deal with the fallout of the emerging scandal.

“All parties in the parliament must agree on who the commissioner is; we cannot have yet another Liberal crony named to head up this inquiry,” Poilievre said while calling for a formal inquiry last week.

The head of the far-left New Democratic Party (NDP) Jagmeet Singh has similarly called for an independent probe.

“The way to stop alleged secret Chinese interference is to refuse to keep their secrets for them. A fully independent and non-partisan public inquiry is the way to shine a light into the shadows,” he said last week.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.

 

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.