There is no evidence of “traitors” in Canada’s parliament plotting with foreign governments to interfere with elections, a Canadian public inquiry has said.
The foreign interference commission’s final report, released on Tuesday, said attempts by foreign states to meddle in recent elections were “troubling” but had “minimal impact”.
The inquiry did warn that disinformation posed an “existential threat” to the country’s democracy.
The end of the months-long inquiry comes in an election year in Canada, with a federal race expected as early as this spring.
A parliamentary intelligence committee had said in a June report that some members of parliament are “witting or semi-witting” participants in foreign meddling.
But the inquiry’s commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue said in Tuesday’s findings that she had seen no evidence of conspiracy by parliamentarians and that the June report “sometimes contained inaccuracies”.
“There are legitimate concerns about parliamentarians potentially having problematic relationships with foreign officials, exercising poor judgment, behaving naively and perhaps displaying questionable ethics,” she also wrote.
On disinformation, Ms Hogue said: “In my view it is no exaggeration to say that at this juncture, information manipulation (whether foreign or not) poses the single biggest risk to our democracy.”
The inquiry was called in September 2023 to investigate allegations of interference by China, Russia, India and other foreign actors.
It was in response to a steady drip of detailed press reports, many based on leaked intelligence, of Chinese meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
There is no evidence the efforts altered the outcomes of either election.
Over a number of months, the inquiry heard public testimony by witnesses including members of parliament, national security officials, senior government aides and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Tuesday’s report, which included 51 recommendations, was critical of the government’s response to interference, which it described as slow..
Coordination between “various players involved has not always been optimal”, it also stated, while efforts to educate the public about interference was “piecemeal and underwhelming”.
In May, Ms Hogue released an interim report calling interference a “stain” on Canada’s electoral process.
The report found that China “stands out as a main perpetrator” of such interference.
China “clandestinely leveraged” Canadian officials in an effort to help its “favoured” candidates win office in 2019, the interim report stated.
Tuesday’s report said India has become the “second-most active country engaging in electoral foreign interference in Canada”.
Both India and China have repeatedly denied allegations that they have meddled in Canada’s affairs.
The inquiry also heard from diaspora Canadians who spoke about being targeted – or having their families targeted – by foreign states.
Those affected by the alleged meddling efforts have accused officials of not doing enough to combat it.
Tuesday’s report called transnational repression “a genuine scourge” that officials should take seriously.
The federal government said it was reviewing the final report and was taking steps to improve election security.
