Canada says China and India may seek to meddle in election

By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA (Reuters) - China and India are likely to try to interfere in the Canadian general election on April 28, while Russia and Pakistan have the potential to do so, the country's spy service said on Monday.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service made its comments at a time when Ottawa's relations with both India and China are chilly. Beijing and New Delhi have denied previous allegations of interference.

Canada was slow in responding to efforts by China and India to interfere in the 2019 and 2021 elections but their outcomes were unaffected by the meddling, an official probe concluded in a final report released in January.

Vanessa Lloyd, deputy director of operations at CSIS, told a press conference that hostile state actors were increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence to meddle in elections.

"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.

Earlier this month Beijing announced tariffs on more than $2.6 billion worth of Canadian agricultural and food products, retaliating against levies Ottawa slapped on Chinese electric vehicles and steel and aluminum products last year.

Canada said last week that China had executed four Canadian citizens on drug smuggling charges, and strongly condemned Beijing's use of the death penalty.

Asked for a response to the CSIS comments at a regular news briefing on Tuesday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said China had always adhered to the principle of not interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, and had "never had any interest in interfering in Canada's internal affairs".

Canada last year expelled six Indian diplomats - including the head of mission - over allegations they were involved in a plot against Sikh separatists on Canadian soil.

"We have also seen that the government of India has the intent and capability to interfere in Canadian communities and democratic processes," said Lloyd.

The Indian diplomatic mission in Ottawa was not immediately available for comment.

Russia and Pakistan could potentially conduct foreign interference activities against Canada, Lloyd added.

"It's often very difficult to establish a direct link between foreign interference activities and election results ... Nevertheless, threat activities can erode public trust in the integrity of Canada's democratic processes and institutions," she said.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Additional reporting by Eduardo Baptista in Beijing; Editing by Sandra Maler and Kate Mayberry)