Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, it was one of the concerns we were looking into, in relation to both the Chinese and other diasporas.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  At that point, we were more at the start of the continuum. We were starting to see more and more acts of this nature. I have to say that in the past, there had already been problems, involving certain countries like Iran and others, that were not necessarily made public, and measures had been taken.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No, I don't think anyone was still naive from 2015 or thereabouts onward. We have to remember that in 2014, the Chinese carried out a cyber attack that was attributed to them. The information was declassified, that is, we publicly recognized that our experts said the cyber attack was attributable to China.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Those people are in the best position not only because they have the required security clearances, but also because the act gives them access to information. The reports of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians also contain interesting recommendatio on matters of foreign interference.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The context had indeed changed, and evolved. As I was saying earlier, it's not a black-and-white situation. It's not as if foreign interference suddenly appeared overnight, because it has been going on for a long time. The difference is that now, it is being practised more systematically and strategically to advance certain interests.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  As I was saying earlier, in the past, Global Affairs Canada didn't publish a public notice on its site reminding Canadian diplomatic missions that they must not interfere in the host country's affairs. Previously, that was done, generally speaking. The notice published by the office of protocol in 2015 was very pointed.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, it is not new. It has gone on for a long time. However, the practices and methods used have certainly evolved.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, there are mechanisms. In fact, when we decide to attribute, it means that we are declassifying some information.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Definitely, we were more and more concerned about Beijing. On the subject of foreign interference, we were particularly watching what was happening in other countries. You just need to go to an open source to see what was happening in Australia in 2017 and what led it to take a lot of aggressive actions.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I was in the position for two years, from the spring of 2016 to 2018. We had numerous conversations on China. Some of these did refer to the subject of foreign interference. We had notes that we sent to the Prime Minister at that time that spoke about this concern, yes. We also had other intelligence tools, as you know.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's very important not to see the threat of foreign interference by a country like China as something that is binary. It's not like it's off one day, and it's on the next day. They are things that come over time. During the period when I was in the position, our concerns were a lot more on issues like the acquisition of sensitive technology, what we like to refer to as economic security.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  At that time, we were concerned a lot about Russia as well. I've just given you a couple of examples.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  There are several memos that go from the national security adviser to the Prime Minister in a week, but there are not going to be several on the subject of foreign interference, and certainly not just foreign interference on elections. I want to be very clear. If you've heard my remarks, foreign interference concerns in Canada are much broader than elections.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Absolutely not. The Prime Minister and his office have always been open to any kinds of threats I wanted to bring.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I was on my way here during that part of his testimony. The only thing I would say is that I gave you one example—two examples actually—in my presentation. President Obama decided to do it. We can determine whether the timing and the fact that it was him doing this made sense following the U.S. election.