The Liberal Party leadership campaign is the first such race to be scrutinized by the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force, which was established in 2019.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Federal security agencies will monitor for foreign interference in the Liberal leadership race, providing some protection after MPs were already raising concerns about potential meddling in the contest.
The Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force will do the monitoring and offer security advice to the Liberal Party and leadership candidates as part of its mandate to safeguard democratic institutions from outside interference, the Privy Council Office announced Monday.
It is the first leadership race under scrutiny by the task force since it was created in 2019; its mandate was at first to monitor only general elections, and then expanded to by-elections.
A public inquiry heard testimony last year about the Liberal Party’s membership rules and concerns they opened the door to potential foreign interference.
Nathalie Drouin, deputy clerk of the Privy Council, as well as national-security and intelligence adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said in a statement that SITE has been working since the Liberal Party called a leadership vote for March 9.
The federal body includes members of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the RCMP, Global Affairs and the Communications Security Establishment, Canada’s cyberspy agency.
“As leadership contests play a crucial role in maintaining the integrity of our democratic processes, the SITE Task Force will be monitoring the upcoming Liberal Party of Canada leadership campaign for possible foreign interference,” Ms. Drouin said.
During the Liberal leadership race, SITE will provide regular updates to the deputy ministers’ committee on intelligence action, which she chairs.
The committee, consisting of deputy ministers from SITE agencies, will “ensure that any threats to electoral integrity are addressed swiftly and effectively,” Ms. Drouin added.
Briefings on foreign interference and protective measures, such as increased cybersecurity and rigorous screening of donations and memberships, will be offered to all candidates for the Liberal leadership.
Until last week, the Liberal Party allowed anyone who “ordinarily resides” in Canada to be a party member and vote in nomination or leadership races.
The Hogue inquiry heard allegations that a Liberal nomination candidate in 2019 had international students brought in to support his bid, facilitated by a known proxy agent for the Chinese government.
In her report, Justice Marie-Josée Hogue said the incident “makes clear the extent to which nomination contests can be gateways for foreign states who wish to interfere in our democratic process.”
Liberal Party national director Azam Ishmael was asked in testimony before the inquiry about the potential for foreign interference in leadership races. According to an interview summary, he believed it would take “hundreds of thousands of people” working together to compromise a leadership vote.
“This is highly improbable,” the interview summary said.
Still, the revelations from the Hogue inquiry led to pressure from MPs on the party to change the rules for the leadership contest. Now, only Canadian citizens, those who have status under the Indian Act and permanent residents are eligible to vote.
The decision to set up SITE for the Liberal leadership race also follows an intelligence report from the national-security watchdog committee last year that alleged China and India interfered in past Conservative leadership races.
The details of those allegations were never made public, and the Conservative Party said no one had ever brought concerns to them.
Patrick Brown, a candidate in the 2022 Conservative race, told a parliamentary committee last year that his campaign was contacted by an Indian diplomat who did not like Mr. Brown’s use of the term “Sikh nation.”
Mr. Brown, now the mayor of Brampton, Ont., told the committee Indian officials never directly threatened to raise money for other candidates or tell people not to sign up members nor did he believe the meddling affected the outcome of the contest – it was ultimately won by Pierre Poilievre.
The Liberal leadership contest, called after Mr. Trudeau announced he intended to step down in the face of a caucus revolt, is narrowing.
Four senior cabinet ministers – Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, Transport Minister Anita Anand and Employment Minister Steve MacKinnon – have already decided not to run. Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne is expected to announce Tuesday that he will not run, either.
The three perceived front-runners are former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, ex-central banker Mark Carney and former British Columbia premier Christy Clark. All three have leadership teams in place and are expected to announce their candidacies later in the week.
Mr. Carney was set to appear Monday night on the popular U.S. program The Daily Show for an interview with host Jon Stewart.
Nova Scotia Liberal MP Jaime Battiste announced Monday he’s exploring a bid as well. Mr. Battiste, who is a member of the Eskasoni First Nation, says he realizes the tight timelines and entry fee make things complex but if he is successful, he’d be the first Indigenous candidate for leadership of the Liberal Party.
House Leader Karina Gould and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson say they are considering entering the race. Former Quebec Liberal MP and businessman Frank Baylis, and current Ontario Liberal MP Chandra Arya have also said they will run.
Ms. Clark ran into controversy over the weekend after she falsely claimed she was never a Conservative Party member. She later had to backtrack, admitting she did buy a membership to support former Quebec premier Jean Charest in the 2022 leadership race.
In an e-mail obtained by The Globe and Mail that Ms. Clark sent to organizers, she characterizes herself as an outsider that the party needs at a time when it has become beholden to the Ottawa elites.
“Our party has become a prisoner of the Ottawa bubble, no longer listening to Canadians, failing to respond to the tremendous stresses Canadians are facing,” she said in the e-mail.
“Paycheques. Jobs. The cost of groceries. Gas. They worry that their children may never be able to afford their own home. And because folks in our party appear to be talking about everything else but those things, millions of Canadians are thinking of voting for the Conservatives instead.”
Meanwhile, former prime minister Stephen Harper has also waded in, saying whoever wins still can’t beat the Conservatives under Mr. Poilievre.
“It is hard for me to imagine how they could reframe the government that is so unpopular and make themselves electable in the space of a few weeks,” he said during an interview with U.S. podcaster Gabriel Groisman. “It would require a miracle and some kind of disaster on our part. Pierre [Poilievre] is a smart enough politician that I just don’t see those things happening.”