Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeauannounced on Monday that appoint an independent special rapporteur to “combat” and investigate the interference of regimes such as those of China, Iran and Russia in the country’s elections.
“Any attack or attempted attack against our democracy is unacceptable,” Trudeau declared, noting that “the Chinese government and other regimes such as Iran or Russia have tried to interfere not only in our democracy, but in our country in general.”
“It is not a new problem,” he added.
The announcement comes after Pierre Poilievreleader of the main opposition Conservative Party, will accuse Trudeau’s Liberal Party of profiting from Chinese meddling in the 2019 and 2021 elections.
Poilievre also said China donated $200,000 to the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation (former Prime Minister of Canada and father of the current Canadian ruler).
The main opposition parties had called in recent days for the creation of an independent commission to investigate allegations that China has influenced the results of the country’s last two general elections.
But Trudeau said it would be up to the special rapporteur to decide whether the formation of a commission of inquiry or any other measure is necessary.
“We will follow their recommendations,” Trudeau said during a press conference in which he announced the creation of the post of special rapporteur. The name of the rapporteur will be announced shortly.
Trudeau also said he will ask a parliamentary committee and the state agency tasked with reviewing the country’s intelligence services to investigate allegations of foreign interference in Canadian democracy.
After Trudeau’s announcement, the social democrat New Democratic Party (NPD), the fourth party in Parliament and with which the ruling Liberal Party has an agreement to guarantee the stability of the Government, assured that the appointment of the special rapporteur is insufficient and reiterated the need to create a commission of inquiry.
The main opposition group, the Conservative Party, also called for the creation of a commission.
Also on Monday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced that it has begun an investigation into the possible violation of the law regulating the disclosure of official secrets after several Canadian media said that Trudeau had been informed about cases of foreign interference.
According to the newspaper “The Globe and Mail”Canadian intelligence services believe that China helped 11 candidates (nine Liberals and two Conservatives) in the 2019 elections, information that was communicated to the Government.
The same newspaper said that the secret documents indicate that China supported the re-election of Trudeau in the 2021 elections and made efforts to ensure that conservative candidates considered opposed to Beijing were not elected.
(With information from EFE and AFP)
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Source-www.infobae.com