On March 12, the same day it was announced that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau had contracted COVID-19, a troubling report about foreign threats to Canada was released.
Not surprisingly, the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians 2019 annual report got sucked into the vortex of the coronavirus tornado and was promptly flung aside to become a one-day story.
That’s unfortunate because some of what this report addresses can help us better understand the patterns of howChina misrepresented for two months the seriousness of the novel coronavirus first detected in Wuhan and the glossing over of that by some world leaders, including Canada’s.
By understanding China’s propensity to not reveal all facts and to rule by fear, the whole world can be better prepared to protect itself against the next virus coming out of China — something experts say is sure to happen since its wet markets — where both SARS and COVID-19 originated — have re-opened.
In short, the 190-page heavily redacted report found that China and Russia are using undercover agents, members of their diaspora and groups based on Canadian campuses as part of “significant and sustained” foreign interference activities that “predominantly threaten the fundamental building blocks of Canada’s democracy.
“For almost 20 years, the government has rightly focused on terrorism as the greatest threat to public safety. While that threat persists,” said the director of CSIS, David Vigneault, “foreign interference and espionage” is viewed “as the greatest threat to Canadian prosperity and national interests.”
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See Also:
(1) Canada and Australia: A tale of two COVID-19 responses
(2) Canada should take its cues from countries where the virus is under control, not from the WHO
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