China tried to meddle but Canadians decided the last two elections, says Trudeau

China tried to meddle in the last two Canadian elections but the results were not impacted and it was “improbable” Beijing preferred any one party over another, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told an official probe on Wednesday.
In sworn testimony before a commission conducting a public inquiry into alleged foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian elections, Trudeau answered questions about intelligence briefings he had received and asserted the elections were “free and fair.”
Trudeau set up the commission last year under pressure from opposition legislators unhappy about media reports on China’s possible role in the elections.
Erin O’Toole, who led the main opposition Conservative party during the 2021 campaign, has estimated Chinese interference cost his party up to nine seats but added it had not changed the course of the election. Trudeau’s Liberal Party won both the elections.