Trudeau briefed on alleged interference in Dong’s riding before 2019 election: document
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau received briefings about foreign interference allegations related to former Liberal MP Han Dong’s riding before the 2019 election, a new document shows.
It was submitted to Canada’s inquiry into foreign election interference Monday evening.
The briefings are mentioned in an interview summary and say Trudeau was informed of allegations related to the nomination contest for the Toronto-area riding of Don Valley North in “late September/early October 2019.”
The 2019 federal election was held Oct. 21.
It goes on to say that the Privy Council’s records appear incomplete. The briefings were “not reflected in the PCO IR (Privy Council Institutional Report).”
Last Tuesday, the inquiry heard CSIS had intelligence that Chinese international students who went to a private high school were bused in to vote in Dong’s 2019 nomination contest, as first reported by Global News.
The information provided by the spy agency at the inquiry has not alleged that Dong knew about China’s alleged efforts to interfere in his nomination race.
Another interview summary was shown at the inquiry about “irregularities” in the race for Don Valley North.
It contains information presented to a panel of senior officials tasked with warning the public about possible foreign election interference.
Nathalie Drouin, a panel member in 2019 and Trudeau’s current national security and intelligence adviser testified the existence of busses with students was “corroborated” but the threshold for informing the public had not been met.
“All the other elements were not corroborated,” said Drouin.
Dong is not named in either of the interview summaries, which are based on closed-door interviews and top-secret information and redacted for the
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