Trudeau wants evidence of possible election interference by China checked International recall for more than 270,000 VW cars

Given mounting political pressure, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants indications of China’s potential influence on the 2019 and 2021 elections to be further investigated. According to media reports, the liberal politician announced on Monday evening (local time) in the Canadian capital Ottawa that he would involve the parliamentary committee on national security, among others. He should also be given access to top secret documents about China’s suspected meddling in the election, the Toronto Star newspaper wrote.

In addition, an outside consultant should examine how Canada has handled this potential election interference and make recommendations as to whether a public inquiry is needed, the National Post wrote. However, with these announcements, Trudeau failed to comply with the demands of the opposition and former security and intelligence officials, who had called for such a public inquiry, the newspaper further reported.

Trudeau had secured a third government mandate in the 2021 general election but failed to win a majority of the vote and is governing with a minority government. There was a similar result in the 2019 election. According to the National Post, there was a large number of media reports about China’s attempts to influence the outcome of both elections. This would include leaked information from government intelligence sources.

(sda/dpa)