Foreign interference: Elections commissioner reviewing

OTTAWA –

Canada’s elections commissioner says her office is “seized” with reviewing complaints and information regarding allegations of foreign interference during the last two federal elections.

“I am seized with the importance of this issue, as well as the need to reassure Canadians under these exceptional circumstances,” Commissioner of Canada Elections Caroline Simard told MPs on the Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC) Thursday morning as its foreign interference study continues.

“We have conducted a rigorous and thorough review of every complaint and every piece of information that has been brought to our attention concerning allegations of foreign interference in both the 2019 and 2021 general elections,” said Simard, who is responsible for enforcing federal elections laws, and has the power to lay Criminal Code charges.

“This review is ongoing as I speak, to determine whether there’s any tangible evidence of wrongdoing under the Canada Elections Act,” she said.

Simard told MPs that this work is being conducted “impartially and independently from the government.” The outcome will allow her to determine whether the allegations meet the threshold of breaching Canada’s elections laws, but would not result in drawing conclusions around the “validity of election results overall or in a particular riding.”

Simard’s comments come in the midst of marathon testimony at PROC from top national security, elections, and foreign intelligence officials as part of a months-long study into elections interference. That study has ramped up in recent weeks amid media reports alleging Chinese efforts to influence the outcomes of the 2019 and 2021 campaigns.

The commissioner said that complaints have come into her office both prior to, and in light of reports from The Globe and Mail and Global News. Overall the Office of the Commissioner of Canada Elections has received 158 complaints regarding 10 situations of potential elections violations, and 16 complaints regarding 13 situations in the 2021 campaign. Simard was not definitive on how many of these complaints were in regards to alleged Beijing election interference.

“For reasons of confidentiality, I will not be able to provide further details regarding the ongoing review, complaints, or any or any other information received by my office. As with any investigative body, confidentiality is essential to protect the presumption of innocence and of course to avoid compromising the integrity of our work,” Simard said, imploring anyone with information about potential wrongdoing under the Canada Elections Act to contact her office.

Appearing alongside Simard, Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault said that while he encourages Canadians to treat the reported allegations of election meddling “with caution,” the news has raised questions of great concern for Canadian democracy and national sovereignty.

“Foreign interference is not a partisan issue. It can target elected and public officials at all levels of government, across parties… Canadians also have a right to know that every effort is deployed to tackle the threat of foreign interference,” Perrault said.

“While it is not possible to draw a straight line between foreign influence and the outcome of a particular election, acts of foreign interference attack the fairness of the electoral process and must be addressed to protect our democracy.”

As MPs on the committee are poised to vote on an NDP motion calling for a public inquiry to be struck to further examine the issue of foreign interference, both Simard and Perrault testified that the information they’d be able to provide at a public inquiry would not be any different than what they told PROC on Thursday. 

More to come…