No Indications of Foreign Influence on 2025 Federal Election, Says Commissioner

Commissioner of Canada Elections Caroline Simard waits to appear before the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 2, 2023. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

There is no evidence to indicate the outcome of April’s federal election was influenced by foreign interference, disinformation, or voter intimidation, despite a marked increase in the number of complaints about the campaign, Canada’s elections commissioner says.

A preliminary report from Commissioner Caroline Simard said her office received 16,115 complaints related to the spring campaign that concluded on April 28. That is seven times the number of complaints received during the elections in 2019 and 2021, the Office of the Commissioner of Canada Elections (OCCE) said, noting that it was receiving as many as 650 complaints each hour in the early stages of the campaign.

A portion of these figures can be attributed to receiving multiple complaints about identical issues, the report said. Common complaint themes identified by the commissioner were related to elections advertising, publication of false statements about candidates, and distribution of photos or videos of ballots.

Meanwhile, the volume of complaints on more serious issues was lower than her office expected.

“While my office did receive complaints regarding allegations related to foreign interference, the use of artificial intelligence, and disinformation, it was certainly not of the magnitude we anticipated in most cases,” she said in the report. “So far, based on our initial observations and the information we have, there is no evidence to suggest that the election outcome was affected in any way.”

A number of complaints lodged with Simard’s office thus far indicated either public misconceptions about what constitutes illegal activities in elections, or confusion about which part of the Canada Elections Act had been breached, the report said.

Her office had closed approximately 2,330 files by the end of April with 13,785 cases pending. Some were resolved informally due to the work of the commission’s investigators, while others fell outside of the office’s mandate.

The number of complaints received by the OCCE is continuing to grow as it receives files from other organizations about potential contraventions of the Canada Elections Act. Her office has received 14,810 complaints from the public, eight from Elections Canada, and seven from political entities. The remaining public complaints were referred to her office by Elections Canada and the RCMP.

She said while there is no evidence to suggest that the election results were impacted by impropriety, it is too early to draw final conclusions. She added that the complexity of certain cases may only become evident after in-depth scrutiny.

“Our compliance and enforcement work under the Act is an ongoing process that extends well beyond a federal election,” Simard said. “Our operational efforts will continue for the foreseeable future.”

Foreign Interference Concerns

Although foreign interference complaints were not as high as the Commissioner expected, Canada’s Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force suggested in April that China was attempting to interfere in the election.

SITE said it detected an “information operation” on Chinese social media platform WeChat targeting the election and specifically Prime Minister Mark Carney as a candidate.

“Specifically, various contrasting narratives were spread on WeChat about Mr. Carney – first amplifying the candidate’s stance with the United States, then targeting his experience and credentials,” the Privy Council said in a statement.

An analysis by The Epoch Times found the content about Carney was generally positive, saying he would deepen cooperation with China.

Carney told reporters he had “absolutely no idea” why China would promote positive narratives about him.

Conservative candidate and Hong Kong pro-democracy advocate Joe Tay was also identified by SITE as being in Beijing’s crosshairs. Tay, who ran in the Ontario riding of Don Valley North, was the subject of a transnational repression operation across several social media sites that are widely used by Chinese-language speakers in Canada, the country’s elections security task force said.

Tay, an outspoken advocate for democracy in Hong Kong, was targeted on Facebook, WeChat, TikTok, RedNote, and Douyin, the Chinese market version of TikTok, SITE officials said, noting that the Chinese special administrative region placed a HK$1 million bounty (CA$184,000) on Tay in December 2024.

Tay’s case made headlines when comments made by his then-rival, former MP and Liberal candidate Paul Chiang, surfaced during the election campaign. Chiang had suggested Tay be brought to the Chinese consulate to collect the bounty placed on him. Carney did not ask Chiang to step down, but he eventually dropped out of the campaign of his own volition.

Tay ultimately lost the election to Liberal candidate Maggie Chi who won 53 percent of the vote. Tay placed second with 42 percent.

The commissioner’s preliminary report did not offer details on any of the complaints it received and did not say if it was looking into allegations of interference in Tay’s or Carney’s campaigns.

The Canadian Press and Noé Chartier contributed to this report.