The allegations, based on top-secret Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) reports viewed by the Globe, are too insidious, too detailed and too important to ignore.
The Globe and Mail report suggests the ultimate goal was to help China’s preferred Liberals win just enough seats to secure another minority mandate, the better to keep Canada’s government beholden to opposition parties for survival while paralyzing Parliament with in-fighting and electoral uncertainty.
Added up, it’s jaw-dropping stuff that should be impossible for a sitting prime minister to ignore, even though the news dropped on the Friday before a long weekend with media largely fixated on the release of the Rouleau Report into the use of the Emergencies Act.
And yet, incredibly, Trudeau seemed far less concerned about the story than a CSIS leak he wants found and plugged.
True, the government argued, its integrity panel gave both the 2019 and 2021 elections a clean bill of health. But it cannot confirm if the members of that panel actually saw the CSIS reports, which might have changed their conclusion.
And while Prime Minister Trudeau is correct in arguing a handful of riding changes from alleged Chinese manipulation would not be enough to change the general election outcome, wouldn’t any successfully foreign-manipulated riding results be far too many?
It defies belief that Trudeau would soft-peddle this story because China’s goal was to help elect his Liberal government, but there’s little else by way of an alternative explanation for this prime minister’s passive blindness to spy agency concerns while lasering in on finding the source of the leak.
There should be double-barrel cannon blasts of Liberal outrage. China’s ambassador should be summoned for a carpet crawl and possible expulsion. Some sort of independent probe into these explosive allegations should be launched as the prime minister’s bare-minimum response.
Yet the prime ministerial pattern seems pretty clear – if you see no evil, speak no evil and study no evil then no evil will be found.
At very least Trudeau should do exactly what China was trying to prevent – follow the U.S. lead and create a registry of foreign agents in Canada. It’s a no-brainer, particularly in light of these revelations, but the Trudeau government is still stuck in musing mode about the concept.
China will obviously be emboldened by its election-manipulation missions in 2019 and 2021 and no doubt extend its helping hand to more agenda-friendly politicians in the next vote.
Keeping in mind this is a country where 50 swing ridings usually crown the victorious party leader as prime minister, so it wouldn’t take a dramatic escalation of Chinese interference to sway the outcome of a very close election, which already seems to be in the forecast for the next federal vote.
If this government refuses to exorcise foreign influence from Canadian democracy quickly and decisively, the outcome of a future federal election could well be made in China.
U.S. President Joe Biden heads north next week for his first visit to Canada as president. Ahead of the visit, both countries are laying out a wide range of potential topics spanning from migration policy to continuing support for Ukraine.
More than 130,000 people have signed an e-petition calling on Canada to give transgender and non-binary people fleeing harmful laws in their home countries the right to claim asylum, but that's already possible in this country. Advocates say the popularity of the proposal shows politicians that Canadians want the government to affirm its welcoming position.
The Public Order Emergency Commission has concluded that the federal government met the threshold for invoking the Emergencies Act to bring an end to the 'Freedom Convoy' protests and blockades.
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
Governor of the Bank of Canada Tiff Macklem says he thinks Canada is 'turning the corner' on inflation, but he isn't ruling out that the country could enter a 'mild recession.' In an English-language broadcast exclusive interview with CTV National News Ottawa Bureau Chief Joyce Napier, Macklem encouraged Canadians to prepare a 'buffer' to withstand 'tougher times.'
Joe Biden comes for a sleepover next week to make Canada the 18th country he has visited since being sworn in as U.S. president, quite the protocol slippage from that fading, if not forgotten, tradition of Canada being the first foreign presidential pitstop, writes Don Martin in a column for CTVNews.ca.
After weeks of refusing to look further into foreign election interference, Justin Trudeau surrendered to intense pressure and appointed a 'special rapporteur' to review China's actions. In his exclusive column for CTVNews.ca, Don Martin writes this 'startling change of heart' suggests the PMO is in panic mode and reflects badly on the prime minister's decision making.
The Trudeau tipping point is within sight. The moment when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau knows he has to quit for the good of the party or the Liberals realize they can't survive re-election with him at the helm is almost upon us, Don Martin writes in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca.
Bombshell revelations that suggest Chinese agents actively, fraudulently and successfully manipulated Canada's electoral integrity in the last two federal elections cannot be dismissed with the standard Justin Trudeau nothing-to-see-here shrug, Don Martin writes in his exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca.
The chances Trudeau's health-care summit with the premiers will end with the blueprint to realistic long-term improvements are only marginally better than believing China’s balloon was simply collecting atmospheric temperatures, Don Martin writes in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca, 'But it’s clearly time the 50-year-old dream of medicare as a Canadian birthright stopped being such a nightmare for so many patients.'
An explosion at a chocolate factory in Pennsylvania on Friday killed two people and left five people missing, authorities said. One person was pulled from the rubble overnight.
A recent study by the Angus Reid Institute found Canadians view their country more positively than Americans do, but only a slight majority of people in Canada believe their system of government is good.
The top commander of Ukraine's military said Saturday that his forces were pushing back against Russian troops in the long and grinding battle for the town of Bakhmut, and British military intelligence says Russia appears to be moving to a defensive strategy in eastern Ukraine.
Staring down a possible indictment, a defiant Donald Trump is hoping to put on a show of force Saturday as he holds the first rally of his 2024 presidential campaign in a city made famous by deadly resistance against law enforcement.
U.S President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have announced updates on a number of cross-border issues, after a day of meetings on Parliament Hill.
The new asylum seeker agreement between Canada and the United States will not deter migrants from trying to cross into Canada outside official ports of entry, Quebec immigration advocacy groups say.
This past week, Parks Canada opened up its reservation system for the 2023 season, offering places to stay, hikes to take and national historic sites to visit across the country. According to three experts, here's where to travel this summer.
A woman in southern Ontario is making a plea to the public and kicking off a "long shot" search for her wedding dress after her father accidentally donated it earlier this year.
The new asylum seeker agreement between Canada and the United States will not deter migrants from trying to cross into Canada outside official ports of entry, Quebec immigration advocacy groups say.
A recent study by the Angus Reid Institute found Canadians view their country more positively than Americans do, but only a slight majority of people in Canada believe their system of government is good.
New research has uncovered the stories of 19 members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, who were involved in consensual relationships but were arrested and tried for what was then known as gross indecency.
After a day of meetings on Parliament Hill, U.S President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced updates on various cross-border issues. CTVNews.ca breaks down Biden's first presidential visit to Canada, as it happened.
Short-term rental company Airbnb says it will pull listings that don't have a proper permit from the Quebec government. The San Francisco-based company made the announcement eight days after a fatal fire destroyed an Old Montreal building that housed illegal rentals.
Republican Idaho Gov. Brad Little has signed into law a bill allowing firing squads to execute death row inmates when lethal injection drugs are unavailable, making Idaho the fifth U.S. state to allow the execution method.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene swept into the District of Columbia jail to check on conditions for the Jan. 6 defendants, with Republican lawmakers handshaking and high-fiving the prisoners, who chanted 'Let's Go Brandon!' -- a coded vulgarity against President Joe Biden -- as the group left.
Staring down a possible indictment, a defiant Donald Trump is hoping to put on a show of force Saturday as he holds the first rally of his 2024 presidential campaign in a city made famous by deadly resistance against law enforcement.
The voting precinct could have been any one of hundreds throughout Chicago, except that these voters in the first round of the mayoral election were all wearing the same beige smocks. And the security at this polling place wasn't intended to keep disrupters and campaigners out, but the voters in.
The Israeli military said two Israelis were wounded Saturday evening in a drive-by shooting in the occupied West Bank, the latest in months-long violence between Israel and the Palestinians.
Pope Francis on Saturday accepted a resignation request from a German bishop who asked to step down because of his mistakes in handling sexual abuse cases.
U.S President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have announced updates on a number of cross-border issues, after a day of meetings on Parliament Hill.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he accepts Han Dong's decision to leave the Liberal caucus after an allegation he spoke to a Chinese diplomat about delaying the release of two Canadians.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's teenage daughter and son, Ella-Grace and Xavier, 'no longer access TikTok,' the father of three told reporters during a joint press conference with U.S. President Joe Biden in Ottawa on March 24.
Hershey Co. is looking to reduce 'trace' amounts of lead and cadmium in its chocolate, chief financial officer Steve Voskiul told Reuters on Wednesday, after Consumer Reports found that some dark chocolate bars had potentially harmful levels of the heavy metals.
A growing number of Muslim doctors and psychologists are trying to bridge the gap between faith leaders and worshippers with eating disorders, who say they face marginalization when trying to access support within their own communities, as well as in the public health system.
For the first time, autism is being diagnosed more frequently in Black and Hispanic children than in white kids in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
Gordon Moore, the Intel Corp. co-founder who set the breakneck pace of progress in the digital age with a simple 1965 prediction of how quickly engineers would boost the capacity of computer chips, has died. He was 94.
CTV W5 speaks with members of the comedy industry, including Russell Peters, for a wide-ranging look at how political correctness and 'cancel culture' has changed the world of stand-up comedy.
A former contestant on the long-running television game show 'Family Feud' has been charged with first-degree murder and home invasion in the slaying of his estranged wife in western Illinois.
Greece on Friday welcomed the return of ancient artifacts from the Acropolis, furthering a campaign to press the British Museum to hand back a collection of sculptures taken from the ancient site in Athens more than 200 years ago.
Recent moves by President Joe Biden to pressure TikTok over its Chinese ownership and approve oil drilling in an untapped area of Alaska are testing the loyalty of young voters, a group that's largely been in his corner.
Germany and the European Union announced Saturday that they have reached an agreement in their dispute over the future of cars with combustion engines, allowing the registration of new vehicles with such engines even after 2035 provided they use climate-neutral fuel only.
Utah's sweeping social media legislation passed this week is an ambitious attempt to shield children and teens from the ill effects of social media and empower parents to decide whether their kids should be using apps like TikTok or Instagram.
This past week, Parks Canada opened up its reservation system for the 2023 season, offering places to stay, hikes to take and national historic sites to visit across the country. According to three experts, here's where to travel this summer.
Japanese chef Tomoya Kawada has achieved a feat no other restaurateur has before; he's created the world's only three-Michelin-star Chinese restaurant in a non-Chinese-speaking city.
United States President Joe Biden is staying in Ottawa on his short trip north of the border, but the catering team from the National Arts Centre plans to take him on a cross-country culinary tour Friday evening.
Retired Formula One champion Nelson Piquet has been ordered to pay US$950,000 in 'moral damages' for making racist and homophobic comments about Lewis Hamilton.
The making of the hugely popular BBC car show 'Top Gear' has been halted following a crash during filming in December that left co-presenter Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff with serious injuries, the broadcaster said late on Thursday.
California lawmakers on Thursday will vote on whether to allow penalties on oil companies for price gouging at the pump, a first-in-the-country proposal aimed at stopping the kind of spikes last summer that caused some drivers pay up to US$8 per gallon as the industry reaped super-sized profits.
