More than 16 months after it was established, the public investigation that studies foreign interference in the Canadian elections will publish its final report today.
The report of Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue is expected to deliver recommendations on how federal government agencies can protect better against foreign interference.
It comes with all eyes in a federal liberal leadership career that will end in early March and a federal choice that could follow as soon as this spring.
The commission’s work occurred in two phases. His first phase analyzed whether the interference of China, Russia and others affected the federal elections of 2019 and 2021.
Hogue published an initial report in May, which found that foreign interference did not affect which political party the government formed in those elections. The report found that it is possible that the results in a small number of cables were affected by foreign interference, “but this cannot be said with certainty.”
“Our systems are still solid,” Hogue said after publishing that report. “The voters were able to cast their vote, their votes were duly registered and counted and there is nothing to suggest that there was any interference in this regard.”
The second phase, which saw public audiences in September and October, focused on whether Canadian government institutions are equipped to detect and counteract foreign interference.
The testimony of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in that phase made waves when he said he has the names of conservative parliamentarians who are involved in foreign interference.
In response, conservative leader Pierre Poilievre accused Trudeau to lie and asked him to release the names of parliamentarians who have collaborated with foreign agents.
Last June, a report from the Security and Intelligence Committee of parliamentarians discovered that some parliamentarians were “ingenious or semi-finge” participants in foreign interference.
The consultation has access to that report. However, Hogue later warned that he did not expect them to appoint those parliamentarians because the report is based on classified information.
Federal research was activated by media reports last year that, citing unidentified security sources and classified documents, accused China of interfering with the federal elections of 2019 and 2021.
The original bonfire deadline was December 31, but it was awarded an extension of one month. The report is scheduled to be published late this morning.