Former Canadian politician suspected of working for foreign government: CSIS

A former Canadian politician is suspected of trying to influence Parliament’s work on behalf of a foreign government, according to documents released by the foreign interference commission Friday.

No identifying information about the parliamentarian — whether they were a senator or MP, or what party they belonged to — was included in the documents, nor was the country they were allegedly working for named.

But it’s a previously unknown instance of direct foreign interference in Canada’s democracy.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), working with other security and intelligence agencies, produced a list of six significant instances of suspected foreign interference in recent years.

Four were previously detailed by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue’s inquiry into foreign influence operations in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. The remaining two had not been previously disclosed to the public.

In addition to the parliamentarian suspected to have clandestinely worked for a foreign government, the list also included an instance of another state working to block the election of a Liberal MP.

“Reporting indicates a foreign government undertook several actions, including interference, to reduce the likelihood of a specific Liberal candidate from being elected federally,” the document read.

“It is suspected that the foreign government sought to thwart the candidate’s bid given their support for issues perceived to be contrary to the foreign government’s interests.”

The remaining four instances of foreign interference listed by the intelligence agency were detailed in the first phase of Hogue’s inquiry:

-The Government of Pakistan “attempted to clandestinely influence Canadian federal politics with the aim of furthering (their)