Former top Harper staffer, Conservative campaign lead says she wasn't briefed on foreign interference

OTTAWA -

The former deputy chief of staff to Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper told members of Parliament Thursday that the Liberal government isn't doing enough to combat foreign interference, echoing similar testimony from national-security experts.

Jenni Byrne, who also managed the Conservatives' campaigns in the 2011 and 2015 federal elections, testified Thursday at a House of Commons committee that is studying foreign interference.

She said the government is too soft on China, and is turning a blind eye to the country's alleged meddling in Canada's democracy -- even as she denied being informed of foreign-interference allegations that security agencies say they were aware of during her time in office.

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Byrne pointed to the Liberal government taking two years to expel a Chinese diplomat who was allegedly involved in a 2021 plot to intimidate Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family in Hong Kong.

"It casts a chill, and it should cast a chill for every member of Parliament, regardless of what political stripe they are," she said Thursday at the committee.

"If a government allows this to happen, it makes every single one of you a target of foreign interference based on your right to vote and speak in the House of Commons and put forward motions."

The allegation that Chong was being targeted by China came to the attention of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service not long after he voted in favour of a motion condemning the Chinese government's human-rights record.

But Chong, along with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other political actors, said he was not made aware of the threats at the time, and instead learned about them in recent media reports.

Trudeau said it was unacceptable that security officials did not raise the issue to a political level, and he was directing security agencies to immediately inform parliamentarians about such threats even if they are not deemed credible.

Canada announced this week that it was expelling the diplomat who was allegedly implicated, and Beijing responded by moving to remove a Canadian diplomat posted to China.

As Trudeau and his ministers continue to face questions about accusations that China meddled in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, witnesses who study national security testified on Thursday that the government should be doing more in response -- such as creating a foreign agent registry and holding an independent public inquiry.

During the committee hearing, Liberal MP Ruby Sahota said "a foreign agent registry is going to be implemented in the coming months" following consultations that just concluded.

The government has not ruled out a public inquiry.

Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former intelligence officer with Canada's spy agency, said both Conservatives and Liberals have found themselves the victims of foreign interference attempts.

He said the current government should expel more Chinese diplomats and that the country has too big a presence in Canada.

As of March 16, there were 178 registered diplomats accredited to Beijing's embassy and consulates in Canada, and an additional five accredited to the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal, Global Affairs Canada said last week in response to a question raised in the House.

"There's no reason to have so many diplomats with someone who doesn't want to do business with us," Juneau-Katsuya said to the committee.

He said CSIS has known since the mid-1990s that Conservative and Liberal governments have been compromised by China. While he didn't provide specific evidence, he said he knows that the agency has warned cabinets about such issues in the past.

In a public report covering the periods of 2011 to 2013, CSIS said foreign interference was a growing threat in Canada.

But Byrne said she was not briefed on election interference by bad actors during the 2011 and 2015 national campaigns she ran, or while serving in the prime minister's office.

She said such interference "never came to mind because there was never any thought I had that there were foreign actors participating into the election process."

New Democrat MP Matthew Green said it's "highly suspicious" that somebody with the kind of security clearance Byrne had "would never consider foreign interference."

"Either you knew and did nothing, or you didn't know and you're incompetent," said Green, borrowing lines from Conservative MP Michael Cooper, who has used the same phrasing while questioning government officials during the committee's study.

Trudeau has insisted that the best way to get to the bottom of the various allegations is through an investigation by former governor general David Johnston, who has been appointed as a special rapporteur.

He is mandated to look at what Trudeau, his staff and his cabinet ministers knew about the attempted interference, and what they did about it.

Johnston will have access to classified documents and is expected to issue recommendations on whether or not a public inquiry is necessary by May 23, but he has until the end of October to complete his review.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 11, 2023.