The report that was leaked from the "intelligence communities" came from an election interference task force Trudeau formed himself years ago (see sources below regarding SITE). Intelligence agencies have reported they've been taking steps to combat it going back for many years (see sources below where CSE reported it took steps to combat interference in 2019). He doesn't need to authorize action that is already included in their mandate. He said he didn't authorize any action when discussing a particular case, same as he denied knowledge about a particular case. He never said he's authorized no actions or denied knowledge in general, in fact he's been discussing election interference and doing things about it for years (see sources below).
I didn't say the public didn't have a right to know about interference, I said the public doesn't have a right to know all the details of what intelligence agencies are doing about it. Because if we publicise that information, other groups have an easier time working too circumvent it. That's how National Security works.
If you don't think social media is deciding votes, you haven't been listening. There's a reason there's a big push to combat misinformation and disinformation on social media. I'm not in the intelligence game, but it seems to me you can analyze past voting results with current poll results, compare polls before to after the release of misinformation or the suspected meddling, compare polls to actual election results, intercept foreign agent communications discussing their perceived effectiveness, etc. And those are ideas off the top of my head. Again though, it's literally the intelligence agencies' job to quantify these, and their report indicates no significant impact. I suspect the "how" is extremely complicated.
SOURCES
I'll give the link so you can confirm quotes aren't out of context, quote relevant parts, and highlight significant phrases.
From November of last year:
It follows reports that Canada has identified 11 Beijing-funded candidates at the 2019 elections.
www.bbc.com
"
We have taken significant measures to strengthen the integrity of our elections processes and our systems, and will continue to invest in the fight against election interference, against foreign interference of our democracies and institutions," Mr Trudeau told reporters on Monday.
From last month:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/china-interference-concerning-analyst-1.6752577
But Trudeau
said he's aware of the threat and foreign interference did not change the outcomes of the 2019 and 2021 elections.
"
I have been saying for years, including on the floor of the House of Commons, that China is trying to interfere in our democracy, in the process in our country, including during our elections," he told a news conference Monday.
Trudeau said Canada's intelligence agencies have been working "very hard" to counter the threat.
Jennifer O'Connell, parliamentary secretary to the minister of intergovernmental affairs, responded that the
government had set up multiple committees to address and study foreign interference. Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair chimed in that he had
written to all MPs in December 2020 about the threat to elections from foreign actors — particularly China.
An article from 2018 where Trudeau is discussing foreign interference in elections (primarily Russia in this case, but still):
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-putin-election-interference-1.4587130
Trudeau cited how he has
tasked Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould with shoring up Canada's electoral system against foreign meddling.
From a few days ago:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/election-foreign-influence-canada-1.6764639
That panel, which oversees the Critical Election Incident Public Protocol (CEIPP),
was created in 2019 as part of a series of measures taken by the federal government to combat the threat of foreign influence on Canada's election process.
Last year, for example, Canada's cyber spy agency, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), said in its annual report that
it had launched a defensive operation to protect the 2021 federal election — including the party leaders' debate — from disruption by foreign agencies.
Juneau said that after the
2016 U.S. election, and reports of large-scale intervention, there was fear that Canada needed to take the issue more seriously.
"That was a wake-up call," he said.
Part of that wake-up call was the federal government's Plan to Protect Canada's Democracy.
That plan included the creation of SITE, a task force comprised of CSIS, CSE, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Global Affairs Canada (GAC).