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26-03-2025
OTTAWA: China and India are likely to try to interfere in the Canadian general election on April 28, while Russia and Pakistan have the potential to do so, the country’s spy service said on Monday.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service made its comments at a time when Ottawa’s relations with both India and China are chilly. Beijing and New Delhi have denied previous allegations of interference
Canada was slow in responding to efforts by China and India to interfere in the 2019 and 2021 elections but their outcomes were unaffected by the meddling, an official probe said in a final report released in January.
Vanessa Lloyd, deputy director of operations at CSIS, told a press conference that hostile state actors were increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence to meddle in elections.
“The PRC (People’s Republic of China) is highly likely to use AI enabled tools to attempt to interfere with Canada’s democratic process in this current election,” she said.
Earlier this month Beijing announced tariffs on more than $2.6 billion worth of Canadian agricultural and food products, retaliating against levies Ottawa slapped on Chinese electric vehicles and steel and aluminum products last year.
Canada said last week that China had executed four Canadian citizens on drug smuggling charges, and strongly condemned Beijing’s use of the death penalty.
Canada last year expelled six Indian diplomats – including the head of mission – over allegations they were involved in a plot against Sikh separatists on Canadian soil.
“We have also seen that the government of India has the intent and capability to interfere in Canadian communities and democratic processes,” said Lloyd.
The Chinese and Indian diplomatic missions in Ottawa were not immediately available for comment.
Russia and Pakistan could potentially conduct foreign interference activities against Canada, Lloyd added.
“It’s often very difficult to establish a direct link between foreign interference activities and election results … Nevertheless, threat activities can erode public trust in the integrity of Canada’s democratic processes and institutions,” she said.
Last year Canada, which expelled six Indian diplomats over allegations they were involved in a plot against Sikh separatists, denied it had evidence Prime Minister Narendra Modi was linked to violence on Canadian soil.
The Canadian foreign ministry last month alleged Amit Shah, considered the number two in Modi’s government, was behind a campaign of intimidation in Canada. Ottawa says it has evidence linking Indian government agents to the 2023 murder of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.
The Globe and Mail newspaper said Canadian security agencies believed Modi knew about the violent plots and said Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and national security adviser Ajit Doval were also in the loop.
Nathalie Drouin, intelligence adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, posted a statement of denial on a government website late on Thursday night.
“The Government of Canada has not stated, nor is it aware of evidence, linking Prime Minister Modi, Minister Jaishankar, or NSA Doval to the serious criminal activity within Canada. Any suggestion to the contrary is both speculative and inaccurate,” she said.
Four Indian nationals have been charged in Nijjar’s killing. India flatly rejects any suggestion its agents were involved in violence against Sikh separatists on Canadian soil. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
