HALL: With everything else going on, don't forget about foreign interference

The Government of Canada has released the budget for the 2024/25 fiscal year, with new tax hikes on “wealthy” Canadians to help fuel the spending fire.But while the Liberals in Ottawa continue to shell out billions of dollars of unnecessary spending, it is important to not forget about the foreign interference investigation currently underway. Former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole was recently in Ottawa to testify about meddling from foreign states (especially China) during the 2019 and 2021 elections. According to O’Toole, as many as nine ridings experienced foreign involvement during the election cycle. This, of course, did not alter the ultimate outcome, as the former Durham MP is quick to point out. However, whether or not China was directly responsible for giving Justin Trudeau four more years in power is not the main concern. The problem is that there exists the possibility of outside actors influencing our democratic process at all. Barely 60% of eligible voters even bothered to fill out a ballot during the last election and the numbers have been declining for a long time. Canadians need more reasons to participate in our democracy, not less. Having China act as a pressure on the system does no favours to inspire confidence in the population.O’Toole was frank during an interview with Steve Paikin. “Our allies viewed Canada as being out of step with the West on China” he remarked. “I was advocating for a course correction, to be much more like our allies … and I think if they had a preference, they (China) didn’t want to see that approach.” Obviously, China believes Canada is a country ripe for exploitation. Beijing knows it can push our country around because the Liberals let them. David Vigneault, director of CSIS, stated in a memo: “Ultimately, state actors are able to conduct Fl (Foreign Interference) successfully in Canada because there are no consequences, either legal or political. Fl Is therefore a low-risk and high-reward endeavour.” Families are targeted in swing ridings, money is poured in to support preferred candidates, and misinformation is spread to confuse and distract.Former Liberal and current Independent MP Han Dong remains the poster child for Chinese meddling in the election process. Reports of international students potentially being bussed out to vote for Dong during his nomination contest in 2019 and “irregularities” during the process were pointed out by David Johnston, the former special rapporteur on foreign interference. International students are allowed to vote in Liberal nomination contests, provided they have an address in Canada. However, the risk of outside actors influencing the outcome for Dong was very apparent in his situation, and points to the flaws in our system.Weak and uninspiring leadership under Prime Minister Trudeau has caused significant damage to the seriousness of Canada on the world stage. One in four Canadians believe our country has a poor reputation abroad, up from just 4% a decade ago. Our military is currently 16,000 members short, and defence spending remains well below NATO targets. There is also AUKUS, a joint security alliance between Australia, the US and the UK. Specifically designed to combat the growing influence of China in the Indo-Pacific region and Canada was left out of joining. It would appear our friends and neighbours in the West do not trust us enough with sensitive information related to China.This country needs to get serious about combatting foreign interference. Amidst all of the many failures of this Liberal government, change is coming. Pierre Poilievre will have his hands full when he becomes Prime Minister, and the incoming Conservative government must stand firm against our enemies. Canada is a vibrant and active democracy, there must be no question of foreign actors having any influence upon our government officials.Conner Hall is an Engineer in Training who works in Calgary's energy sector

HALL: With everything else going on, don't forget about foreign interference

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