{"id":15456,"date":"2025-02-07T23:44:18","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T23:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/02\/07\/freeland-leadership-campaign-targeted-by-foreign-interference-task-force-national\/"},"modified":"2025-02-07T23:44:18","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T23:44:18","slug":"freeland-leadership-campaign-targeted-by-foreign-interference-task-force-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/02\/07\/freeland-leadership-campaign-targeted-by-foreign-interference-task-force-national\/","title":{"rendered":"Freeland leadership campaign targeted by foreign interference: task force – National"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The federal body tasked with monitoring elections for foreign interference says it has briefed Liberal leadership<\/a> candidate Chrystia Freeland\u2019s<\/a> campaign about a Chinese-backed operation that has been spreading disparaging articles online about her.<\/p>\n

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The Security and Intelligence Threats to Election Task Force (SITE) said in a statement Friday that the \u201cinformation operation\u201d was identified by Global Affairs Canada\u2019s Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM Canada) and traced to a popular WeChat news account linked to China.<\/p>\n

\u201cRRM Canada detected coordinated and malicious activity about Ms. Freeland,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

It estimated that between two million and three million WeChat users globally saw the campaign, which included articles published to an anonymous blog that were then spread by over 30 other news accounts on the app.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe campaign received very high levels of engagement and views, with WeChat news articles disparaging Ms. Freeland netting over 140,000 interactions between Jan. 29 and Feb. 3, 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

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SITE said it briefed the Liberal Party executive and members of Freeland\u2019s leadership campaign about its findings on Friday.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI will not be intimidated by Chinese foreign interference,\u201d Freeland said in a post on social media<\/a> in response to SITE\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving spent years confronting authoritarian regimes, I know firsthand the importance of defending our freedoms. Canada\u2019s democracy is strong. My thanks to our national security agencies for protecting it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her final months as finance minister, Freeland took aim at Chinese efforts<\/a> to enter the North American auto market through Mexico and led efforts to impose tariffs and bans on Chinese electric vehicle technology and components.<\/p>\n

SITE was established in 2019 and includes representatives of CSIS, the RCMP, Global Affairs Canada and the Communications Security Establishment, the country\u2019s signals intelligence agency.<\/p>\n

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It has monitored several federal byelections for foreign interference since its creation and announced last month<\/a> it would be overseeing the Liberal leadership race as well.<\/p>\n

Justice Marie-Jos\u00e9e Hogue\u2019s final report on foreign interference<\/a> in Canada\u2019s democratic institutions identified disinformation and misinformation campaigns, foreign or domestic, as the \u201csingle biggest threat to our democracy\u201d after leading a public inquiry into the issue.<\/p>\n

Foreign states continue to use more traditional methods to meddle in Canadian democracy, Hogue said, but are augmenting those efforts through \u201csophisticated technological means\u201d to sow disinformation both in traditional media and on social media platforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis threat is all the more nefarious because the means available to counter it are limited, and very difficult to implement,\u201d Hogue told reporters upon releasing the report. \u201cNevertheless, we must not give up, but rather attack it forcefully, all together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014With files from Global\u2019s Sean Previl and Alex Boutilier<\/em><\/p>\n

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