Canada slow to respond to China and India meddling, but election results unchanged: report

The Canadian government was slow in responding to efforts by China and India to interfere in the country’s elections but their outcome was unaffected by the meddling, an official probe said in a final report released on Tuesday.

The report was the culmination of a probe set up in September 2023 in response to media reports about possible Chinese interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections, both of which were won by the ruling Liberals.

The conclusion confirmed the findings of an interim report released last May that said foreign interference had not changed the results of the elections but eroded public trust in the electoral system.

The Chinese embassy did not have an immediate comment but previously has strongly denied accusations of any meddling. India rejected the allegations in the report and accused Canada of “consistently interfering in India’s internal affairs”.

The Foreign Interference Commission in a statement said it found that foreign meddling in Canada’s elections was not a new phenomenon but that it was on the rise while the methods used were changing.

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Canada expels Chinese diplomat accused of targeting lawmaker Michael Chong and his family

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The probe found that the Liberal government responded to attempted foreign interference by putting in place measures and mechanisms to detect, prevent and counter them, but it “sometimes took too long to act, and coordination was less than optimal”.