Conservatives ask interference inquiry judge to rule elections were flawed

The Conservative Party of Canada has urged the judge overseeing the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference to conclude that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ignored repeated warnings about foreign interference in the last two general elections for partisan gain, the first time the party has formally made such an accusation.

In a separate submission to inquiry Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue, Conservative MP Michael Chong cautions that there is not yet enough evidence for her to say if the 2019 and 2021 general elections can be considered legitimate. That, too, is the first time an elected Conservative MP has suggested the integrity of the overall outcome of both elections is in doubt.

The submissions from other groups given legal standing at the inquiry make a different argument — that foreign interference had no effect on the overall outcome or on the outcome of races in individual ridings.

“None of the FI (foreign interference) activities, either individually or when combined, threatened the integrity or impacted the outcome of the 2019 and 2021 elections, whether nationally or at the electoral district level,” lawyers for the government of Canada argued in their written submission to Hogue. “This remains true today.”

But the written submission from lawyers for the Conservative Party argues that “the Trudeau government has known all too well about the dangers posed by interference” and that Trudeau himself had “personal briefings” on the subject as early as 2017. The lawyers cite documentary evidence presented to the inquiry which included secret memos prepared by CSIS as well as oral testimony given by witnesses at the inquiry to support their argument.

“Prime Minister Trudeau and his government were particularly willing to