Beijing Leveraged Favoured Leader Trudeau and Business Allies in 2019 Election Interference: CSIS
Chinese intelligence sought Meng Wanzhou’s release by calibrating support for Trudeau’s Liberals and “hedging” with opposition candidates.
OTTAWA, Canada — China’s Ministry of State Security planned influence operations unprecedented in scale and sophistication in the run-up to Canada’s 2019 federal election, an explosive CSIS document reveals, seeking to protect Beijing’s interests by pressuring China’s favored Canadian leader, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. CSIS believed this “multi-faceted” operation would leverage Trudeau’s Canadian business allies while Chinese intelligence was “moderating their support for the Prime Minister and other Liberal candidates” by strategically backing select Conservative and NDP politicians Beijing deemed useful to its interests.
The classified June 2019 document, which The Bureau has reported on in part previously, outlines how Beijing calibrated its political interference campaign to apply maximum pressure on Canada’s leadership in order to avert the extradition of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou to the United States. According to CSIS, China’s economic retaliation—such as restrictions on Canadian imports—was not merely punitive but deliberately targeted major Canadian companies with senior access to Trudeau’s government, including Richardson International Ltd., Viterra, Drummond Export, and Olymel.
“CSIS assesses that the PRC seeks to exert pressure on Canada’s political leaders by clandestinely interfering in Canadian democratic institutions in the run-up to the 2019 federal election,” the leaked intelligence document states.
“Multiple corroborated reports confirm that PRC missions in Canada are moderating their support for the Prime Minister and other Liberal candidates. Canada-based PRC officials believe the current government faces an uncertain election outcome.”
This assessment, as laid out in the June 2019 intelligence, could just as likely be applied to Canada’s pending federal election, where Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and Liberal leadership contender Mark Carney—viewed by experts as Trudeau’s favored successor—are polling closely, raising concerns that Canada remains open to deep meddling from Beijing. And it underscores a more complex reality than previous reports of Chinese support for the Liberals, because while Beijing has backed Trudeau, according to CSIS reporting, it simultaneously deployed strategic disruptions to maximize leverage over the Meng case and long-term influence in Canadian governance.
This highly sensitive 2019 intelligence, which predicted expansive Chinese interference in the 2019 election—and leveraging Canadian businesses with direct access to Trudeau—was not examined at all in Canada’s Hogue Commission, which did not address the nexus of Canadian business and political elites in Chinese intelligence schemes.
Open-source research suggests Richardson International Ltd., headquartered in Winnipeg, has frequently engaged with the federal government on export and trade matters. In early March 2019, Liberal Trade Minister Jim Carr publicly addressed China's suspension of Richardson's canola export permit, stating Ottawa was closely monitoring the situation and maintaining direct lines of contact with Richardson. In March 2019, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Jim Carr met with Hartley Richardson, head of Richardson International's parent company, in Winnipeg to address Richardson's export permit.
The Bureau attempted to reach Richardson for comment on this story but messages went unanswered.
Meanwhile, Olymel, Viterra, and Drummond Export are significant agri-food and meat processing firms, with documented participation in federal and provincial trade delegations seeking access to Chinese markets.
The June 2019 CSIS document examined by The Bureau states that “‘China picked Richardson,’ anticipating that it would ‘have the biggest impact.’” The document continues: “CSIS believes that Beijing chose Richardson, because Richardson profits from Chinese markets; its executives have direct access to senior elected officials.”
Meanwhile, the “Canadian Eyes Only” assessment, distributed within Ottawa months before the October 2019 election, contradicts claims made in the Hogue Commission’s testimony, where Trudeau’s senior officials have downplayed intelligence suggesting Chinese election meddling and favoritism for the Liberals. According to the document, multiple corroborated CSIS sources confirmed that PRC missions in Canada were actively working to maintain Liberal rule.
CSIS’s assessment reveals a multi-pronged effort by China to exert political and economic coercion on Trudeau’s government. This campaign was anchored in three key strategies: using trade restrictions on key Canadian businesses to pressure corporate leaders with direct access to Trudeau into lobbying for Meng’s release; engineering election interference to maintain a favorable Liberal government while selectively influencing non-Liberal candidates to ensure maximum strategic leverage; and weaponizing the detention of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor to coerce Canadian officials into backchannel negotiations on the Meng case.
Notably, CSIS’s intelligence analysis suggests Beijing expected Canada to eventually extradite Meng but nevertheless escalated its pressure campaign—including possible extreme measures—should diplomatic coercion fail. According to a chilling passage in the June 2019 document: “Uncorroborated single-source CSIS reporting indicates that the PRC may consider Ms. Meng's exfiltration or assassination if it becomes the only alternative to significant national harm.”