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EESTI ELU reedel, 25. oktoobril 2019 — Friday, October 25, 2019
Trolling Trudeau: Fears of foreign interference in Canada Marcus Kolga For several years Chinese government influence has been a major concern in electoral districts around Toronto and Vancouver, which have large concentrations of Chinese voters. Those same suburban ridings are the pri mary battlegrounds in the 2019 election, and the results of those local elections will help shape the overall out come of the federal election. Foreign interference in Canadian elections has been a major concern since Russian entities interfered in the 2016 US presidential campaign. Before and during the 2019 Canadian federal election, au thorities warned that foreign governments would attempt to influence the federal election process. While some major disinformation operations have taken place – primarily targeting Justin Trudeau with fabricated stories about alleged miscon duct – the true origins of these efforts are not yet known. Russian disinformation cam paigns have targeted both Conservative and Liberal politi cians since 2014, but a major coordinated attack like the one seen in the 2016 US election has not yet been detected. However, Chinese influence operations and disinformation targeting Canadian Chinese communities has been a glaring concern. In addition to engaging in disinformation operations, Ca nadian authorities have warned that foreign govern ments may also try to influence domestic politics “by at tending nomination meetings to
Boris Johnson’s possible Estonian connection ERR, October 2019 U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson may be all over the news these days as yet another Brexit deadline approaches, but ETV’s Pealtnägija broad cast found that drama was somewhat in the genes as it examined the sad life of one of Johnson’s possible ances tors. Duchess Augusta of Bruns wick-Wolfenbüttel (1764-1788) was the first wife of Frederick I of Württemberg, and the niece of Britain’s King George III. The marriage was not a re sounding success, however, though it gave rise to four chil dren. One of them, Prince Paul of Würt temberg, is potentially the U.K. prime minister’s pro genitor, though the issue is clouded as it was via an illegiti mate line. Following gossip that Frederick of Württemberg was bisexual, Duchess Augusta
help select candidates favorable to their causes.” Russian Proxies Russian influence and disin formation operations in Canada became active immediately fol lowing the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. Since then, Canadian pro-Kremlin groups have pushed narratives that are consistent with those promoted by the Putin regime, including the conspiracy theory that Canada “is populated by des cen dants of Nazis who now exert outsized political power…” These organizations have also tried to affect Canadian legisla tion in the past – including Canadian Magnitsky legislation – and to discredit Canada’s leadership of NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence in Latvia and training missions in Ukraine. During the 2015 Canadian federal election, the Russian Canadian Congress published a letter that stated that the “hor rible human rights violations conducted by Ukrainian govern ment and the radical ultra- nationalist organizations… enjoy full support from the current Conservative government.” However, these groups have remained relatively silent on so cial media during the election period. Members of pro-Putin Canadian social media groups have posted support for the farright populist People’s Party of Canada, led by former Conser vative cabinet minister, Maxim Bernier. And known pro-Krem lin trolls and sock puppets have amplified misinformation pri marily targeting Justin Trudeau and Liberal candidates. Among the positions promot ed by pro-Kremlin accounts are
sought refuge in the court of Russian empress Catherine the Great. Refusing to grant Augusta a divorce, the dis gruntled Duchess was sent to Estonia, at a time when the country was part of the Russian Empire, namely to Kullamaa village in Lääne County. She had one more child, a stillborn, fathered by local squire Wilhelm von Pohlmann, who was supposed to be Au gusta’s guardian, before dying from childbirth trauma herself, at the age of 23. Augusta was buried at Kul lamaa Church and her tomb is visible today. She was reportedly buried with her stillborn, and ghost stories soon abounded. Much later, her skeleton was exhumed and an infant skeleton was indeed found entombed with her.
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Bernier’s anti-immigration poli cies and the perception that the People’s Party is anti-LGBTQ. While all three mainstream par ties, the New Democratic Party, Liberals, and Conservatives, have each expressed support for expanding Magnitsky sanctions and for Ukrainian independence and sovereignty over Crimea. The People’s Party has not. Instead, their election platform stated that, it will not allow Canada to “get involved in foreign conflicts unless we have a compelling strategic interest in doing so.” Chinese Influence For several years Chinese government influence has been a major concern in electoral districts around Toronto and Vancouver, which have large concentrations of Chinese voters. Those same suburban ridings are the primary battlegrounds in the 2019 election, and the results of those local elections will help shape the overall outcome of the federal election. The mixture of Chinese government influence, possible ties to campaign financing, and targeted messaging, has created a toxic political environment that has threatened to under mine local and national trust in the Canadian democratic pro cess. Their influence on local political campaigns can be seen in their promotion of candidates from both leading political parties who adopt positions favorable to China. In 2015, Toronto-area mem ber of the Ontario Provincial Parliament, and Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and International Trade, Michael Chan, was identified in an ex plosive Globe and Mail article about Chinese regime influence in Canadian politics. The report claimed that CSIS, Canada’s intelligence agency, briefed
Ontario officials about Chan, who, according to them, “had developed too close a relation ship with China’s consulate in Toronto, raising fears the minister was susceptible to in terference from Beijing that could put Canada’s national interests at risk.” Chinese Communist Partyfunded (CCP) junkets are also a key channel for influencing Canadian politicians. Since 2006, the CCP has funded nearly forty junkets for federal minis ters of parliament (MPs) and Senators. These trips expose parliamentarians to Chinese propaganda and influence. Notably, the former federal Liberal cabinet minister, John McCallum – whose seat was in the same federal riding as Chan’s provincial one – took trips funded by China and pro-Beijing business groups, valued at 73,300 dollars, before he became Canada’s ambassa dor to China from 2017 until 2019. He resigned after publicly wading into the extradition case of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. In June of this year, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer accused McCallum of inviting Chinese interference in the October federal election. Most recently, Conservative MP, Bob Saroya – whose elec toral district north of Toronto is next to the one held by McCallum, and has the highest concentration of Chinese voters – was identified by the Globe and Mail as having taken a CCP-funded junket to China in 2018. The Chinese community in Canada was targeted by politi cal ads on the Chinese social media platform WeChat in vio lation of Canadian campaign advertising laws. Many of the ads featured false information specifically targeting the com munity, which is particularly
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sensitive to illegal immigration, crime, and drug use issues. Saroya’s campaign reportedly utilized false information in his campaign about ‘fake refugees’ being allowed to illegally enter Canada in his campaign litera ture. Another Conservativebranded ad urged viewers to vote for the party and made the false claim that Justin Trudeau would legalize hard drugs if elected. The message on the ad stated that “Only Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives will stop Trudeau’s hard drug legalization plan and keep our kids safe.” The Conservative Party placed similar ads with the same mes saging on Facebook targeting Chinese voters. It should be noted that all three main political parties signed the Transatlantic Com mission for Election Integrity’s pledge to not engage in the use of mis- or disinformation. Conclusion While the overall outcome of the 2019 Canadian federal election was not the result of foreign influence, it is likely that it did have an effect on local and federal debates and outcomes, which was amplified by domestic political engage ment in the use of misinforma tion and disinformation. In the future we should expect more attempts to use raw and nega tive propaganda, including misinformation and disinforma tion by domestic actors both independently and in concert with malign foreign actors in Canada. (Marcus Kolga is an international award winning documentary filmmaker, journalist, digital communications strategist, and a leading Canadian expert on Russian and Central and Eastern European issues. He is a senior fellow at the Mac donald-Laurier Institute.)
Be a candidate for The Estonian Central Council in Canada, and help advocate on behalf of our community October 23, 2019 TORONTO – Candidate nomi nations for the 2019 Estonian Central Council in Canada national elections are now open with forms available online at: www.estonian council.ca The Estonian Central Coun cil in Canada represents and advocates for the interests of all Canadians of Estonian heritage in Canada and beyond. The Council is elected every four years in national elections. This year’s election will be held over a one month period between December 5, 2019 – January 5, 2020 both online, and in polling locations in major cities across Canada. The Estonian Central Council encourages all community members to consider serving our community as a representative on the council, and to lend your voice and ideas to advocate for our community and its volunteer organizations. EKN has a strong and respected voice in Ottawa, in our provincial capitals and cities across Canada. With the strong partnerships that have been developed with other global Estonian communities in USA, Sweden, Australia, The United Kingdom, Latvia and beyond, our com munity has more opportunities than ever before to help build and reinvigorate our global com munity, and to foster greater understanding and cooperation with the Estonian government and our compatriots around the world. Working with our global partners, EKN was proud to lead the global Estonian community effort to establish the Estonian Government Committee for Global Estonian a ffairs – a histori cally and critically important new forum to discuss our community issues with the Estonian government. The deadline to submit your candidate nomination form is November 27, 2019. Candidates are only required to demonstrate that they are of Estonian heritage, whether through a parent or grandparents. Help serve your community by being a candidate for EKN in 2019! Voters can register online here: www.estoniancouncil.ca
