Agents of India and their proxies allegedly meddled in the 2022 election of Pierre Poilievre as Conservative Party Leader as part of a larger effort to cozy up to politicians of all parties, according to a source with top-secret clearance.
The source said the Canadian Security Intelligence Service learned that Indian agents were involved in raising money and organizing within the South Asian community for Mr. Poilievre during the leadership race, which he won handily. But the CSIS assessment did not indicate that this effort was done in a sweeping and highly organized way, the source said. Mr. Poilievre won on the first ballot with 68 per cent of the vote.
CSIS also did not have evidence that Mr. Poilievre or members of his inner circle were aware of the alleged actions of India’s agents and their proxies, said the source, who has national security clearance to see top secret reports.
The Globe and Mail is not identifying the source because they were not authorized to disclose classified information publicly.
CSIS did not share this information with Mr. Poilievre, the source said, because he does not have the necessary security clearance to access secret documents and receive classified briefings on foreign-interference activities in Canada. Mr. Poilievre is the only federal party leader who has declined an offer to obtain a security clearance.
Sam Lilly, a spokesman for the Conservative Leader, said Mr. Poilievre’s leadership race followed all relevant rules and laws.
The public inquiry into foreign interference, which held hearings in 2024 and was headed by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, cited China and India as the main foreign-interference actors in Canada, saying they use diplomats and proxies to meddle in Canadian domestic affairs. In regard to India, Justice Hogue said in her final report in January that proxy agents clandestinely provide “illicit financial support to various Canadian politicians in an attempt to secure the election of pro-India candidates or gain influence over candidates who take office.”
Justice Hogue added, however, that “the intelligence does not necessarily indicate that the elected officials or candidates involved were aware of the interference attempts, nor were the attempts necessarily successful.”
In a statement Monday, CSIS spokesperson Lindsay Sloane said that the agency testified during the Hogue inquiry that there was no reason to believe “impacted candidates would have been aware of the alleged support” from India during the 2022 Conservative leadership race.
Ms. Sloan said the spy service had provided a classified briefing to Ian Todd, chief of staff to Mr. Poilievre, “about foreign interference threat activities and tactics, including allegations of interference in the leadership race.”
She said CSIS takes any allegations of foreign interference seriously and actively investigates
In a report last June, the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) alleged Beijing and New Delhi interfered in Conservative leadership races. NSICOP cited “India’s alleged interference in a Conservative Party of Canada leadership race,” but the report did not identify whether this meddling involved Mr. Poilievre or other candidates.
When he launched his campaign in the federal election that was called on Sunday, Mr. Poilievre told reporters that he doesn’t trust the Liberals with a security clearance and noted the obligations of a clearance would restrict his ability to discuss and hold the government to account.
“What I am not going to do is go into a politically directed process by the Liberals that they use to decide what I can see and say and comment on,” he said. He said CSIS is free to brief him directly if the agency feels it’s warranted.
In testimony before the Hogue inquiry in October, then-prime minister Justin Trudeau pointed to the NSICOP report on the 2022 Conservative leadership contest, criticizing Mr. Poilievre for showing “no curiosity or openness in trying to figure out what happened or whether someone was compromised or whether a foreign country impacted those leadership races.”
Justice Hogue has urged all federal party leaders to obtain national-security clearances so they can view top-secret intelligence that may affect members of their parties. Security clearances involve a rigorous process that includes background checks on family members, credit and criminal checks, and intrusive personal questions such as whether they ever used drugs.
In a preinterview transcript tabled at the inquiry, Mr. Trudeau told commission counsel that his national security and intelligence adviser Nathalie Drouin showed him “explosive” intelligence about a political party. Although he did not name the party in the preinterview, Mr. Trudeau told the inquiry on Oct. 16 that he had received highly classified intelligence that Conservative Party politicians and members were involved in or were susceptible to foreign interference.
Mr. Trudeau later acknowledged, under questioning from the Conservative Party’s lawyer, that he had received secret intelligence about Liberals and members of other political parties who were also allegedly compromised by or engaged in foreign interference.
In her final report, Justice Hogue played down the NSICOP report’s allegations that some parliamentarians had either wittingly or unwittingly collaborated with foreign powers. “Although a few cases involving things like attempts to curry favour with parliamentarians have come to light, the phenomenon remains marginal and largely ineffective,” she said. “While the states’ attempts are troubling and there is some concerning conduct by parliamentarians, there is no cause for widespread alarm.”
On Monday, members of the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force, set up to monitor foreign interference during elections and leadership contests, promised weekly briefings on foreign meddling during the 37-day federal election campaign.
Vanessa Lloyd, deputy director of operations at CSIS and chair of the SITE Task Force, said security agencies are keeping a close eye on interference activities, particularly by China and India but also by Pakistan and Iran.
“We have also seen that the government of India has the intent and capability to interfere in Canadian communities and democratic processes, to assert its geopolitical influence,” she said. “Canadian and Canada-based proxies, as well as contacts in their networks, are increasingly relied on to conduct government of India foreign interference activities.”
Indo-Canadian relations went into a deep freeze in September, 2023, when Mr. Trudeau accused agents of India and their proxies of being behind the slaying of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
On Thanksgiving last fall, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme linked Indian government officials to homicides, extortions and coercion committed on Canadian soil. That day, Ottawa expelled six Indian diplomats including High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma. India staunchly denied the allegations and expelled six Canadian diplomats, sending bilateral relations into an even deeper freeze.
