Canada’s spy service on Monday said India and China are likely to try to interfere in its upcoming general election, a charge that came amid its worsening relations with the two countries.
Addressing a press conference on the April 28 snap election, Vanessa Lloyd, the deputy director of operations at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), said that “hostile state actors” were increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence to meddle in the polls, which were announced by the new Prime Minister, Mark Carney, on Sunday.
“The PRC (People’s Republic of China) is highly likely to use AI-enabled tools to attempt to interfere with Canada’s democratic process in this current election,” she said.
China is also “highly likely” to use social media to promote narratives favourable to its interests – and to specifically target Chinese ethnic, cultural and religious communities in Canada using “clandestine and deceptive” means, Ms Lloyd said.
“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 added.
The two countries, which have denied previous allegations of interference, have so far not responded to new charges.
In January, India rejected “insinuations” levelled by a Canadian commission report of interference in Ottawa’s elections by certain foreign governments.
In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also hit back at Canada’s interference in India’s internal affairs.
“We reject the report’s insinuations on India and expect that the support system enabling illegal migration will not be further countenanced,” the statement read.
India’s comments on a Canadian Commission’s report:
🔗 https://t.co/MksX55h7kr pic.twitter.com/58jzrx1X9P
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) January 28, 2025
Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail had alleged that New Delhi used proxy agents to provide “clandestine financial support” to candidates from three political parties in a federal election.
Canada Warns Of Poll Interference By Russia, Pak
Ms Lloyd also said Russia and Pakistan could interfere in the Canadian general election.
Russia has tried to build “dissemination networks” across social media and news websites that “amplify Kremlin talking points,” she told reporters.
“It is possible that Russia will use these online networks to opportunistically conduct foreign information manipulation and interference operations directed at Canadians,” she said.
She also said that Islamabad could conduct foreign interference activities against Canada “in line with its strategic aims” to promote political, security and economic stability in Pakistan and “to counter India’s growing global influence”.
Canada-India Ties
Tensions between India and Canada have simmered since former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s September 2023 allegation of New Delhi’s involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
India dismissed the accusation as “absurd.”
The row deepened when India expelled six Canadian diplomats and recalled its envoy to Ottawa after Canada attempted to question Indian officials as “persons of interest” in the Nijjar case.
