“All poll workers sign a solemn declaration that they will be nonpartisan while working at an election and protect the secrecy of the vote,” said Elections Canada in an official statement, as if an agent of the Chinese Communist Party might hesitate to lie about such a thing (“Elections Canada unable to confirm allegations of Chinese Communist Party agents as poll workers,” Western Standard, August 31, 2024).
Blacklock’s Reporter says [Leona] Alleslev, who served as an MP for two terms, submitted a sworn affidavit claiming she received numerous complaints from Chinese Canadian voters who expressed fear of voting due to the alleged presence of these agents….
“Around half the Chinese Canadian constituents she canvassed would tell Ms. Alleslev they were afraid to vote for her because they feared repercussions against themselves or their family members both in Canada and in China,” the affidavit stated.
The affidavit also alleges that some constituents believed Chinese Communist Party agents were either working within local Elections Canada offices or monitoring polling stations to see who voted.
In the relevant part of its own statement, the federal elections agency said that it “would be impossible for us to make any kind of determination with certainty” about whether there was any infiltration by the Chinese Communist Party of the polling infrastructure in Alleslev’s district.
Fair enough. If it lacks sufficient information to make a definite determination, the agency must say that it can’t say either way.
Reporters also seem to lack enough information to say how much or exactly how Elections Canada investigated the matter. By its own admission, Elections Canada “does not conduct background checks on volunteers” before they start working at polling stations. Did it look into the backgrounds of Chinese poll workers in the Aurora-Oak Ridges electoral district during its investigation? Had any of the poll workers mysteriously disappeared?
Chinese Canadians who talked to Alleslev (shown above) may have been intimidated by agents of the Chinese government who were not poll workers but who were simply hanging around the polling station making sure that Chinese nationals were aware of the threat the CCP agents represented. But one or more of the constituents who talked to her mentioned poll workers.
Reports of such intimidation don’t exist in a vacuum. We know that the Chinese Communist Party tries to interfere in both Canadian and American elections. We know that the Chinese Communist Party routinely monitors and harasses Chinese nationals who live overseas.
Also see:
CBC: “MPs agree to probe allegations of Chinese interference in federal elections”
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service “reportedly told Trudeau that China’s consulate in Toronto floated cash to at least eleven federal election candidates ‘and numerous Beijing operatives’ who worked as campaign staffers.”
