Final report on foreign election meddling coming next week

After reviewing hundreds of documents and listening to hours of testimony, the inquiry probing foreign interference in Canada's past two federal elections will release its final report on Jan. 28.

Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue's findings, and any potential recommendations, come as parliamentarians ready for an increasingly inevitable spring election.  

Since last January, Hogue and her team of lawyers have heard hours of sometimes contradictory testimony about the breadth of foreign interference in the past two elections by multiple countries, including China, Russia and India, and whether information was shared with the right people at the right times.

The inquiry's initial report, made public in May, called foreign interference a "stain" on this country's electoral system, but Hogue said meddling attempts did not affect which political party formed government. 

That first report noted it's possible the results in a small number of ridings were affected by foreign interference, "but this cannot be said with certainty."

The second half of the public hearings focused on the ability of agencies and officials to identify and counter foreign meddling.

The federal inquiry was triggered by media reports last year which, citing unnamed security sources and classified documents, accused China of interfering in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

Hogue's final report was originally due at the end of last year but she was granted an extension.