Canadian lawmaker and former leader of the Conservative Party Erin O’Toole said on Tuesday that the country’s spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), had informed him that China had campaigned to discredit him. and suppressing his votes ahead of the 2021 election, when he lost to incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of the Liberal Party.

“The CSIS statement confirmed to me what I had long suspected – that my party, several members of my caucus and I were the targets of a China-orchestrated disinformation campaign aimed at suppressing voters before and during the elections. 2021 election,” O’Toole told the House of Commons, Canada’s Parliament.

O’Toole criticized the government for failing to pass on information about Chinese interference in MPs’ business. “The ideal outcome for the communist regime [chinês] is to make your detractors turn a blind eye and turn a blind eye,” he noted.

Still according to the parliamentarian, the Chinese interference ended up causing “a frightening effect”. O’Toole completed the speech by stating that senior officials and advisers “are intentionally blind to attacks on our parliamentary democracy.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is under pressure from opposition parties in Parliament to open a public inquiry into foreign interference in the last election. Last week, the special rapporteur tasked with opening an investigation into Chinese interference in Canadian elections took a stand against an inquiry process.

Earlier this month, Trudeau expelled a Chinese diplomat from the country accused of participating in a scheme to pressure the family of a Chinese-Canadian conservative politician in 2021. The prime minister also acknowledged that ‘there had been Chinese interference in the processes for a long time. of the country, but said it “did not compromise” the integrity of the 2019 and 2021 election results.

Trudeau’s office did not respond to O’Toole’s comments. The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa also did not comment. Earlier this year, O’Toole announced he would be leaving politics and the House of Commons on June 23.

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