Well, the inevitable has happened. After months of speculation, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau emulated his father, took a walk in the snow (it may not have been actually snowing in Ottawa on Jan. 6 but it was extremely cold!), and announced his intention to resign once a replacement is selected. The worst-kept secret in the nation’s capital came to pass.
We know, through leaked intelligence and the Public Inquiry Into Foreign Interference, that Beijing has been at the forefront of efforts to sway candidate nomination meetings, in part by busing Chinese students to events and to ensure that those running for office are in China’s, and not Canada’s, interests. When added to the PRC’s establishment of “police stations” on our soil to monitor dissidents, as well as the outright harassment and threats to those it sees as undermining China’s self-created myth as a paradise on Earth, we are well aware of this menace to our democracy.
China is not alone. Russia, Iran, and others also do their utmost to advance their agendas among diasporas in Canada. The evidence behind these schemes has been well documented publicly—not to mention the intelligence passed on by national security agencies—and the government has no excuse for its lack of action.
In fairness, other parties also have leaky party selection processes, and we need a national solution to a national problem, but the Liberals seem to be the worst at sticking their heads in the sand (at least the Conservatives limit voting to citizens and permanent residents, those on the path to citizenship). Not only did the PM and his team ignore CSIS intelligence on these forms of interference, but he accused those merely demonstrating the extent of the problem of being racist. This approach underlines that the government, which claims to take national security “very seriously,” does nothing of the sort.
The bottom line is that this party will continue to allow foreign nationals, i.e., non-citizens, to have a say in the choice of candidates for the House of Commons up to and including the prime minister. What other democracy allows this to happen?
The Liberals are making a mockery of the democratic process in Canada. It is unclear why they would want to undermine our independence and allow foreign states to have such levels of influence in what must be a made-in-Canada process. This inaction and sheer disregard for sovereignty must be stopped before the next election. Beijing must be dancing in the aisles at this ignorance and shortsightedness.
If nothing is done soon, I nevertheless hope the next government gives national security the time, attention, and priority it deserves.
“The China Syndrome” was a 1979 film starring Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas about a cover-up of safety hazards at a nuclear power plant (shades of Chernobyl?). It appears that truth is again imitating fiction in that we have a government keen to cover up hazards, these ones to the core of the voting process.
There is an old saying: “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.” The Liberal Party needs to clean up its act and close the loopholes to prevent foreign meddling.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
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