Liberals have not ‘turned a blind eye’ to foreign election interference, campaign lead tells MPs

OTTAWA –

Testifying before the House of Commons committee studying foreign election interference, Liberal Party National Director Azam Ishmael said the party has not “turned a blind eye” to the issue.

“At no time during my tenure as national director has the Liberal Party of Canada knowingly accepted support from, or turned a blind eye to interference in a Canadian election by any foreign state. We have not tacitly accepted the help of any foreign state, nor have we encouraged it,” Ishmael told MPs on the Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC).

Ishmael, who was the party’s 2021 campaign director, said he is limited in what he can reveal due to national security implications and, candidly, because of his lack of recollection of all discussions he was party to during the election period. Nevertheless, he said he was confident in the party’s protocols.

“The Liberal Party of Canada has extensive compliance measures in place to ensure strict adherence to the Canada Elections Act and other applicable laws by our candidates, nomination contestants and campaign teams,” he said. “We also have rules governing the conduct of nomination campaigns and party processes in order to build confidence in the public’s participation in the political process at every stage.” 

Ishmael suggested the Liberal Party is not alone in being unable to speak to the actions of every one of its campaign volunteers, workers or supporters, but said he was proud of the work done by his party to protect Canadian democratic institutions during and between elections.

He said all political parties “have a role to play” in preventing foreign interference in federal elections.

In his testimony Tuesday, senior adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the party’s 2019 national campaign director Jeremy Broadhurst echoed Ishmael.

“Allegations of attempts at interference in our political process by state actors are extremely disturbing and have been taken very seriously by the government, and I believe by all the political parties,” Broadhurst said.

“The Liberal Party always stands ready to assist the appropriate authorities in their efforts to combat foreign interference. And, the party does try to assist our candidates and volunteers to recognize potential vulnerabilities,” he continued. “Because it is worth noting that what has been lost in recent public dialogue concerning foreign interference, is that politicians are most often the victim of this type of interference, but they have not always had the tools necessary to recognize it and prevent it.”

CONSERVATIVE CAMPAIGN LEADS TESTIFY

Testifying this hour are the Conservative Party’s 2021 and 2019 federal election leads: Fred DeLorey and Hamish Marshall. Both are speaking to their awareness of election interference attempts and the ways certain monitoring efforts could have been more effective. 

DeLorey led then-Conservative leader Erin O’Toole’s federal election campaign and Marshall was at the helm of then-Conservative leader Andrew Scheer’s federal election campaign.

This committee has been studying the issue of foreign interference since November, and has since heard from an expanding list of witnesses, prompted by a series of news reports from The Globe and Mail and Global News citing largely unnamed intelligence sources alleging specific attempts by Beijing to alter the outcomes of the last two elections.

Top federal officials have repeatedly told the committee that the integrity of both elections was upheld, despite China’s interference efforts.

Last to testify was Trudeau’s chief of staff Katie Telford, who offered few new insights on the issue of foreign interference citing the legal limitations she was under, though coinciding documents provided to MPs revealed the dates of high-level intelligence briefings provided on this topic between 2018 and 2023.

Later Tuesday evening, the committee will be hearing from two panels of researchers and public administration and international relations experts.

The committee has outstanding invitations for a trio of former Conservative campaign operatives, whose appearances as of Tuesday morning had yet to be scheduled. 

More to come…