The Foreign Interference Commission resumes Monday morning, April 8, 2024, with government officials, such as former Deputy Minister of Justice Nathalie Drouin, Deputy Minister of Indigenous Services Canada Gina Wilson, David Morrison, Deputy Minister of International Trade, and Marta Morgan, former Deputy Minister of Global Affairs Canada, among others.
Today’s schedule change at the commission is due to last-minute evidentiary issues similar to those seen during the POEC. Government documents are being provided late at night, giving intervening lawyers no time to prepare their questions. The panel of five individuals from 2019 and 2021 will be examined in the morning and cross-examined in the afternoon.
The lawyer from the Russian Canadian Democratic Alliance (RCDA) is asking for a delay until tomorrow because the government documents were given at 1 am. Justice Hogue has not responded yet.
Follow along with live updates from the hearing with Sheila Gunn Reid on X, or on the page below:
Back at it covering the Foreign Interference Commission into China and other foreign states’ attempts (and, as it turns out, successful interventions into the last two federal elections).
I’ll be cutting some clips as I go and posting them here. You can see the compilation of…
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 8, 2024
Today’s schedule change at the commission is due to the same sort of last-minute evidentiary games we saw during the public order emergency commission.
Gov docs are being turned over late at night leaving the intervening lawyers no time to prepare their questions.
The panel…
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 8, 2024
I don’t know what these documents are, but the government dumped a bunch of documents on the commission over the weekend, and lawyers for Michael Chong, Erin O’Toole, the RCDA, and others , are very concerned. Some even want govt witnesses recalled.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 8, 2024
There is so much election bureaucracy jargon, but here is what the Panel of Five is and what its mandate is/was. There was one during 2019 and 2021.
They were getting briefings from the SITE Taskforce on foreign interference. pic.twitter.com/LOw3W6ezm3
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 8, 2024
“The agencies will inform the affected party …of the incident directly.”
However, they didn’t inform Kenny Chui, Michael Chong, Bob Saroya, Jenny Kwan, and Alice Wong, although agencies knew about foreign state actors targeting these MPs and candidates. pic.twitter.com/6SH5ukws7Z
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 8, 2024
These are Panel of 5 documents that suggest the senior Liberal bureaucrats on the panel were well aware of the foreign interference, including the transfer of $250,000 in CPP funds to an unnamed Ontario MPP running as a federal Liberal. pic.twitter.com/0pGuBNiftg
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 8, 2024
Lyall King, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) on the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force, sent Panel of 5 members a report on an FI threat on the Friday before the election.
The panel talked about it on the election Monday. Didn’t act… pic.twitter.com/fSSrYW9cQZ
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 8, 2024
The Panel of 5 explains how Facebook came to censor a 2019 Buffalo Chronicle article.
They say FB came to the PCO with the article. Then the PCO said to take it down to comply with a voluntary agreement with social media companies to pull down what the government (and other… pic.twitter.com/Igq4r1w6gi
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 8, 2024
