“Foreign Interference”

The Russians had money. The Canadian had far-right influencers. The U.S. Department of Justice says it has a criminal case

If it were a movie, it might feel a little too cliched: Russia funnelling money through a maze of shell accounts, a ploy to push stories favourable to a foreign power, and a supergroup of telegenic stars of the right wing media-sphere.

At least, that’s if the allegations laid out in an explosive 32-page American indictment are proven true. The claim is this: that a fledgling Tennessee-based media company took $10 million (U.S.) — provided by Russians who they all claimed was a fictional European businessman — in order to recruit a gaggle of high-profile YouTubers and post videos that, at best, inflamed existing American social divides and in some cases pushed untrue version of news events designed to paint the Kremlin in an advantageous light.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Foreign Interference", Canada, USA

Survey finds Canadians resigned to foreign money influencing federal elections

A majority of Canadians believe illegal foreign money is influencing federal elections, according to in-house research by Elections Canada.

Blacklock’s Reporter says the agency’s study found that more than two-thirds of voters suspect such interference is commonplace, with concerns particularly high among immigrants and British Columbians.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Foreign Interference", Canada

Federal government plans to warn foreign ambassadors not to interfere in next election

The federal government plans to convene a meeting of foreign ambassadors next month to warn them not to interfere in the next election.

Testifying before the inquiry into foreign interference in Canada, David Morrison, deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, said his department is preparing for the next federal election and wants to make sure that diplomats from other countries know where Canada draws the line between attempts to influence and attempts to interfere.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Foreign Interference", Canada, WTF?

RCMP official won’t say whether Chinese ‘police stations’ are still operating in Canada

An RCMP official appearing before the foreign interference inquiry today refused to say whether any Chinese government “police stations” are still operating in Canada.

Asked by lawyers and later by journalists whether any of the so-called police stations are still active here, RCMP Deputy Commissioner Mark Flynn cited an ongoing investigation.

“That again falls into part of our ongoing investigation and I’m not speaking about it at this time,” Flynn told reporters.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Canada's China Class", "China - Communist Slave State", "Foreign Interference", RCMP

Canada–China Ties Moving From Elite Control to ‘State Capture,’ Former Canadian Diplomat Warns

China’s influence on Canada is evolving from influencing political and economic elites to a more dangerous form of “state capture,” says a former diplomat posted to Canada’s embassy in China.

Charles Burton, a sinologist who is now a senior fellow at the think tank Sinopsis, made the remark during a Sept. 26 event in Ottawa for the launch of investigative journalist Sam Cooper’s third edition of “Wilful Blindness,” a book that examines China’s influence in Canada.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Canada's China Class", "China - Communist Slave State", "Foreign Interference", Canada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

CSIS agents frustrated by delay for electronic warrant against long-time Liberal politician

It took at least six weeks for Bill Blair, then-public safety minister, to sign an electronic and entry warrant to monitor former Ontario cabinet minister Michael Chan in the lead-up to the 2021 federal election, according to documents tabled at the foreign-interference inquiry.

Sworn testimony made public Friday suggests that the delay was eight weeks or more.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Foreign Interference", Canada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Only one? Former Canadian politician suspected of working for foreign government: CSIS

A former Canadian politician is suspected of trying to influence Parliament’s work on behalf of a foreign government, according to documents released by the foreign interference commission Friday.

No identifying information about the parliamentarian — whether they were a senator or MP, or what party they belonged to — was included in the documents, nor was the country they were allegedly working for named.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Foreign Interference", Canada's Corrupt Political Class

The scandal that shocked Parliament in the spring is slowly fading from memory

For a few weeks in June, concerns ran high on Parliament Hill about unnamed MPs or senators possibly being compromised, perhaps even consciously, by foreign states — fears raised by a startling but opaque report by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians.

“We cannot and must not remain indifferent in light of such a revelation,” Bloc Quebecois MP Rene Villemure said.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Canada's China Class", "China - Communist Slave State", "Foreign Interference", Canada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Tasha Kheiriddin: Foreign interference hearings are the best spy show going

As Parliamentarians spar over a DOA non-confidence motion and the prime minister chats with late-night host Stephen Colbert, the drama Canadians should really be watching is Season Two of the Hogue Commission on foreign interference. From a clueless Liberal party apparatchik to the Speaker’s refusal to prioritize issues of national security, it is the best spy show going — if only Canadians would tune in. So here are the highlights from the latest instalments.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Foreign Interference", Canada

O‘Toole Raises Interference Concern After Being Approached by ’Flirtatious’ Chinese Woman

Former Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole told the Foreign Interference Commission about a suspected influence attempt that involved being repeatedly approached by a “flirtatious” Chinese woman.

O’Toole recounted two incidents he believes may have involved foreign interference, according to a summary of interviews with commission counsel conducted in March and released on Sept. 18, which was first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Foreign Interference", WTF?

Mr. Trudeau, we’re still waiting for the names of those who collude against us

Canada’s inquiry into foreign interference entered its second half this week, with a shift in focus from the meddling that occurred in the last two federal elections to the issue of the targetting of MPs in general, and the things Ottawa needs to do to protect democracy from malevolent actors.

Potentially included in that latter category is an unnamed group of MPs who are alleged to have wittingly colluded with foreign governments in the past – a shocking revelation made in a heavily redacted report released in June by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Foreign Interference", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

GOLDSTEIN: U.S. decades ahead of us in combatting foreign interference

After years of downplaying foreign interference in our democracy by China, the Trudeau government has belatedly set its hair on fire about foreign interference by Russia.

This in the wake of the U.S. Department of Justice announcing last week that it has charged two employees of RT, a Russian state-controlled media outlet, in a covert $10-million scheme to create and distribute video content to North American audiences with pro-Russian messaging, delivered by a handful of American and Canadian podcasters.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Foreign Interference", Canada, WTF?

China Casting the Decisive Vote in U.S. Election

The U.S. Department of Justice on September 4 announced it was seizing 32 internet domains “used in Russian government-directed foreign malign influence campaigns colloquially referred to as ‘Doppelganger.'” DOJ also announced criminal charges against two Russian media executives.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control at the same time designated 10 individuals and two entities “as part of a coordinated U.S. government response to Moscow’s malign influence efforts targeting the 2024 U.S. presidential election.” The State Department also took actions against Russian parties for such conduct.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"China - Communist Slave State", "Foreign Interference", USA

Liberal MP won’t comment on affidavit alleging Chinese election interference in her riding

Liberal MP Leah Taylor Roy (Aurora-Oak Ridges, ON) on Monday would not comment on an affidavit alleging Chinese Communist Party (CCP) operatives interfered in her riding.

Taylor Roy was honoured as a “new local star” at a Chinese Canadian banquet nine days before the election was called, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Canada's China Class", "China - Communist Slave State", "Foreign Interference", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government