An independent report on the panel tasked with communicating with Canadians in the event of interference in the 2021 election, says in a report released today that the protocol worked well overall. The Peace Tower is seen on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on November 5, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – A newly released independent report on the protocol designed to inform Canadians in the event of threats to the 2021 federal election concludes it worked well overall.
Former civil servant Morris Rosenberg, tasked with writing the report assessing the Critical Election Incident Public Protocol, also made several recommendations for its future.
Rosenberg says the panel created by the protocol did not find there was foreign interference in either the 2019 or 2021 elections that compared to the scale of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.
But the panel of five senior public servants did find there were attempts at foreign interference that did not meet the threshold for making an announcement to Canadians.
Rosenberg says an announcement of that kind was seen as a measure of last resort and he is recommending clearer communication with Canadians about what the panel does.
The panel also found there were domestic threats in the 2021 campaign that included threats of violence and disinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2023.
