I have not.
Evidence of meeting #72 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was campaign.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #72 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was campaign.
A video is available from Parliament.
12:25 p.m.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
Thank you.
Do you think the snitch line proposed by the Conservative Party back in the 2015 campaign, whereby neighbours would report their neighbours, did anything to combat foreign interference?
12:25 p.m.
As an Individual
The 2015 election campaign was not affected by any form of foreign interference that I was aware of.
12:25 p.m.
Bloc
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
Ms. Byrne, thank you very much for being here.
I'd like to go back to when you were a campaign manager, in 2015. To your knowledge, at that time, what were the main national security threats to elections?
12:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bardish Chagger
I am going to pause really quickly.
I want to make sure that, with interpretation, Ms. Byrne, you know that whatever time it takes for interpretation for you to hear the question will be returned to the member. Perfect.
We'll take a pause in between. Let's restart that time.
You have six minutes.
12:25 p.m.
Bloc
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
Thank you very much.
In 2015, you were a campaign manager. At the time, we all remember that there were terrorist attacks. According to you, what were the various threats that may have affected the elections, generally speaking?
12:25 p.m.
As an Individual
I think there were a lot of issues that were of importance during the 2015 election campaign. I would have to say—and I know your NDP colleague is going to ask questions—that the only form of foreign interference that I was aware of leading into the 2015 campaign was the Tides funding of Leadnow, which had a vote now organization that focused on 29 electoral districts. Of those, 16 were Liberals' and 13 were New Democrats'.
That money.... Admittedly, Leadnow said that 17% of its funding came from foreign donors. We know that in 2015, $1.5 million went from American organizations—from Tide—into Leadnow. With Leadnow, for example, there were two ridings I'll point out that were targeted. They were Elmwood—Transcona, which the Conservative MP lost by 61 votes. There were paid staff and 130 volunteers who were put into Elmwood—Transcona, where we lost by 61 votes.
Kootenay—Columbia is—
12:25 p.m.
Bloc
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
Excuse me for interrupting, but I'm not asking for details about who lost an election, or by how many votes. What I really want to know is how you learned about this type of interference in elections. Where did this information come from?
12:25 p.m.
Bloc
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
I'd like to hear what you have to say about a statement made by an earlier witness, to the effect that every government for the past 30 years, from Mulroney to Trudeau, was compromised by China, that each of these governments was informed of it at sone point or other, and that every one of these governments chose to ignore warnings from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Do you agree with this statement, which was made earlier to this committee?
12:25 p.m.
As an Individual
What I can say is that I know I was never briefed on any form of interference from Beijing in terms of election interference for the two national campaigns that I ran.
The difference between that and what we're seeing with the current government is that it's evident they were briefed several times and chose to ignore it. That is not my opinion; that is an undisputed fact. We know that because of press reports.
12:25 p.m.
Bloc
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
Some information must nevertheless have been brought to your attention, because it was public. Even if you weren't involved in the decision, I'd like to hear your opinion. It's known, for example, that Prime Minister Harper had defended his MP, Bob Dechert, after having learned publicly that he had been in a relationship with a journalist working for a Chinese press agency. In hindsight, do you feel that the decision not to relieve him of his duties was correct?
12:25 p.m.
As an Individual
I don't understand what you.... I actually don't know what you're talking about.
12:30 p.m.
Bloc
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
At the risk of repeating myself, I hope it's not something to do with the interpretation. In 2011, Stephen Harper defended MP Bob Dechert, after he had publicly admitted being involved in a relationship with a journalist from a Chinese press agency. Today, in hindsight, do you think that allowing him to keep his job was the right decision?
12:30 p.m.
As an Individual
I was not in the Prime Minister's Office when that incident happened. I was the director of political operations.
I can say that, leading into the 2015 campaign, I was not briefed by CSIS on any—
12:30 p.m.
Bloc
12:30 p.m.
As an Individual
What I'm saying is that, if former prime minister Stephen Harper had been briefed that there had been foreign interference with someone who was going to run, he would have dealt—
12:30 p.m.
Bloc
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bardish Chagger
I am going to interrupt you for a moment, Ms. Normandin and Ms. Byrne. Once again, I would remind you that comments be addressed to the chair, because I've noticed we are not following the speaking order. Thank you.
12:30 p.m.
Bloc
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
And so, Madam Chair, through you, I am asking the witness for her personal opinion, not whether she was aware of it. Given the information we now have, I'd like to know her opinion.
Did Prime Minister Harper make a good decision by allowing his MP to keep his job? I'm asking, because there are similar circumstances at the moment that have been strongly condemned, including by Conservatives. I would therefore like to know, to use an English version of a Quebec expression, whether what's good for the goose is good for the gander.
12:30 p.m.
As an Individual
I can't have an opinion on something I'm unaware of.
My understanding is there was no briefing regarding Mr. Dechert in terms of what happened in 2011.
As I said, all I can say is that, as the campaign director in 2015, CSIS never informed me or briefed me on any concerns they had with any candidate who ran for the Conservative Party of Canada during the 2015 election campaign.