Olusegun Ariyo
The Canadian spy service on Monday said China and India are likely to try to interfere in the country’s general election on April 28, while Russia and Pakistan have the potential to do so.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service made its comments at a time when Ottawa’s relations with both India and China were said to be chilly.
Meanwhile, Beijing and New Delhi have denied previous allegations of interference.
An official probe concluded in a final report released in January that Canada was slow in responding to efforts by China and India to interfere in the 2019 and 2021 elections, but their outcomes were unaffected by the meddling.
Deputy Director of Operations at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Vanessa Lloyd, told a press conference that hostile state actors were increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence to meddle in elections.
“The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is highly likely to use AI-enabled tools to attempt to interfere with Canada’s democratic process in this current election,” she said.
Earlier this month, Beijing announced tariffs on more than $2.6 billion worth of Canadian agricultural and food products, retaliating against levies Ottawa imposed on Chinese electric vehicles, steel, and aluminium products last year.
Canada said last week that China had executed four Canadian citizens on drug smuggling charges and strongly condemned Beijing’s use of the death penalty.
When asked for a response to the CSIS comments at a regular news briefing on Tuesday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said China had always adhered to the principle of not interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and had never had any interest in interfering in Canada’s internal affairs.
Canada last year expelled six Indian diplomats—including the head of mission—over allegations they were involved in a plot against Sikh separatists on Canadian soil.
“We have also seen that the government of India has the intent and capability to interfere in Canadian communities and democratic processes,” said Lloyd.
