Politics Insider: Conservative candidate targeted by election interference from China, watchdog says

Hello, welcome to Politics Insider, election edition. There are seven days until voting day. Let’s look at what happened today.

A federal election-threats watchdog has uncovered a foreign interference operation from China targeting a Toronto-area Conservative candidate.

The goal of the plan was to shift public opinion among Chinese-speaking Canadians against the candidate, who has been a sharp critic of Beijing’s crackdown on civil rights in Hong Kong.

Steven Chase and Emily Haws report that the target was Joe Tay, the Conservative Party candidate for the federal riding of Don Valley North.

The Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force announced today that this campaign is taking place on the social-media platforms where Chinese-speaking Canadians are active.

They include WeChat, Facebook, RedNote, TikTok and Douyin, a short-video application owned by the same company as TikTok.

The task force described this effort as a transnational repression operation. This is a form of foreign interference where authoritarian governments reach beyond their borders to harass, threaten and intimidate people overseas who are critical of these regimes.

Meanwhile, the federal Conservatives say they will be releasing their platform on Tuesday, a day after advance voting for the election ends.

The timing makes the Conservatives the last major party to unveil the entirety of its plan should it form government on April 28.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail

Jagmeet Singh and the NDP confront an uncertain future: The NDP has lost voters to both the Conservatives and Liberals, but its leader, Jagmeet Singh still believes a progressive voice is needed – so he heads forward into an uncertain future.

Carney pledges to reduce government reliance on U.S. tech giants: Liberal Leader Mark Carney told reporters at a campaign stop in Charlottetown today that building the capacity of Canadian technology companies and reducing the use of American providers is an important element of his party’s economic strategy.

Language is usually top of mind for Winnipeg francophones. Not in this election: As voters prepare to go to the polls next week, voters in the St. Boniface neighbourhood of Winnipeg – the heart of Franco-Manitoba and one of the country’s largest French-speaking communities outside Quebec – are balancing protecting their language with Donald Trump’s trade war

On our election radar

• Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet campaigned today in Quebec City, the Quebec City-area municipality of Saint-Irénée and the city of Baie-Saint-Paul where he was scheduled to watch the Montreal Canadiens play the Washington Capitals.
• Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre held a news conference in Toronto’s Scarborough neighbourhood, and, while in the city, also addressed a retiree group.
• Green Party Co-Leader Elizabeth May canvased in the Saanich-Gulf Islands riding where she is seeking re-election. Party Co-Leader Jonathan Pedneault campaigned in the Montreal riding of Outremont where he is running.
• Liberal Leader Mark Carney made an announcement in Charlottetown, followed by a meet-and-greet event in Truro, N.S., and a rally in Fredericton.
• NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh campaigned in British Columbia, with scheduled stops in the Vancouver Island communities of Nanaimo and Comox and the Vancouver-area city of Port Moody.

Poll tracker

The poll by Nanos Research, conducted for The Globe and Mail and CTV, surveyed 1,195 Canadians aged 18 and older from the past three days. The interviews are compiled into a three-night rolling average. It has a margin of error of 2.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Respondents were asked: “For those parties you would consider voting for federally, could you please rank your top two current local preferences?”

The full methodology for all surveys can be found at: tgam.ca/polls.

Campaign quote

“I seem to understand that he fears I would send him pictures of my poutine or some emojis, which won’t happen.” –Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, at a news conference in the community of Saint-Irénée, on his lack of communication with Liberal Leader Mark Carney on federal management of issues of concern to Quebec.

Question period

Elections Canada announced on Friday that two million voters had cast ballots on the first day of advance voting. How much of an increase is that over the first day of advance voting in the last election in 2021?

Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter for the answer.

Perspectives

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Now is not the time for Canada to walk away from diversity, equity and inclusion

Go deeper

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The answer to today’s question: It’s an increase of 36 per cent over the corresponding figures for the first day of advance voting in the 2021 general election, according to Elections Canada.