Han Dong’s nomination did not meet threshold for public announcement

Article content

OTTAWA — The panel of senior servants meant to notify the public of any threats to the integrity of a general election was informed of irregularities in the Liberal nomination contest in Don Valley North in 2019 but decided the threshold was not met to make a public announcement, the public inquiry on foreign interference heard on Monday.

Nathalie Drouin, who was part of the Critical Election Incident Public Protocol as former deputy justice minister in 2019, told the inquiry that nomination contests usually fall outside of the panel’s mandate but said it still looked at the information received during the writ period as it was something that could potentially impact the credibility of the election.

Article content

Article content

Drouin described the threshold for informing the public as “very high” and would only occur if an incident or an accumulation of incidents would undermine Canada’s ability to have free and fair elections. She said that a public announcement could do “more harm than good” and could be seen as creating confusion or interfering in a democratic exercise.

In the end, she said the panel concluded that the “threshold was not met” to do any announcement in regard to the nomination, as it did not compromise the election.

Han Dong was elected as a Liberal MP in 2019 but stepped down from the caucus last year after reports said he had benefitted from a Chinese foreign interference network during his nomination process and had close dealings with the Chinese consulate in Toronto.

Dong told the inquiry that his wife, who acted as his campaign manager, had paid to bus seniors to his nomination and claimed it as electoral expenses but said he did not know who paid for the bus full of international students who voted in the nomination in 2019.

The panel’s witness testimony noted that the information at the time was “not firmly substantiated” and left many questions unanswered.

Article content

Article content

“There was no reliable information about whether or not students were forced to vote, whether or not they voted, whether or not they were under threat of losing their visa, or whether or not they were resident in the riding or coming from out of the riding,” it read.

Drouin said that some actions were taken internally, such as asking CSIS to feed the panel any intelligence they may receive regarding the riding of Don Valley North and asked that Elections Canada also be informed of the allegations. Finally, she said the Liberal Party of Canada was briefed on the subject by the task force on security and intelligence threats.

Marta Morgan, who was deputy minister of foreign affairs at the time, said that there were other mechanisms within the government that could be used. For instance, national security agencies had the authority to take actions as they determined necessary during an election.

Drouin, who today acts as the prime minister’s national security adviser, said she was surprised by many allegations that surfaced in the media about foreign interference long after the 2019 election, notably China’s alleged funnelling of $250,000 to a network and a conversation that Dong had with the Chinese consulate in Toronto about the two Michaels.

Article content

The Critical Election Incident Public Protocol however spent “considerable time” discussing the salacious Buffalo Chronicle report about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which was ultimately taken down by Facebook days before the 2019 election.

The panel, according to their witness testimony, “felt that the situation had ultimately resolved itself without their intervention” and said it was an example of the media ecosystem “cleansing itself.” They did not give further attention to the incident.

But Allen Sutherland, from the Privy Council’s Office (PCO), told the inquiry last week that he was instructed by the former PCO clerk Ian Shugart to ask Facebook to take down the content, which he did. Drouin disputed the version of events, saying that Facebook proactively informed Sutherland and then voluntarily removed it on its platform.

Shugart, who was appointed Senator in 2022, passed away last year.

The public inquiry’s schedule on Monday was disrupted after lawyers for human rights and diaspora groups complained that evidence was being submitted too late for them to read the documents and properly prepare for cross-examination of the witnesses.

Article content

Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue delayed the cross-examination until the afternoon but refused to suspend the hearings for the day, arguing that the inquiry is working under a very tight schedule and that every day counts until she submits her first report on May 3.

Hogue also had to make a slight change to the schedule for a once-in-a-lifetime event.

One of the legal counsels inquired about the afternoon break to be outside for the solar eclipse, which caused laughter in the room. Justice Hogue later told the commission that the afternoon break would be prolonged to let participants observe the phenomenon.

National Post
calevesque@postmedia.com

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here.

Article content