Election watchdog saw major spike in complaints during spring campaign

The independent body that enforces Canada’s election laws is reporting a massive spike in complaints from people concerned about the integrity of this year’s election.

The Commissioner of Canada Elections received seven times the number of complaints about this spring’s vote than the previous two, according to preliminary data.

“The volume and diverse nature of the complaints we received demonstrates Canadians’ engagement and awareness of the [Elections] Act, as well as their confidence in our ability to help ensure the integrity of the electoral process,” Commissioner Caroline Simard said in a news release on Wednesday.

Overall, Simard’s office received just over 16,000 complaints during the campaign period — compared to just under 1,800 in 2021 and roughly 2,600 in 2019.

Even accounting for what the organization calls an “amplification phenomenon” where a single issue can result in thousands of complaints, the number of Canadians raising concerns was twice as high as the previous two campaigns.

Over the past few years, Ottawa has been seized with concerns about foreign interference in elections. Those concerns came to a head during a public inquiry led by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, who released her final report in January.

CBC News also previously reported on an internal briefing note prepared for Simard ahead of the spring vote that flagged artificial intelligence as a “high” risk for the campaign.

Despite concerns of both foreign interference and artificial intelligence, Simard said in Wednesday’s news release that her office received fewer complaints than expected regarding those two issues.

“While my office did receive complaints regarding allegations related to foreign interference, the use of artificial intelligence and disinformation, it was certainly not of the magnitude we anticipated in most cases,” her statement said.

“So far, based on our initial observations and the information we have, there is no evidence to suggest that the election outcome was affected in any way.”

But the news release said more concerns about AI and foreign interference could be revealed as complaints are further studied.

A large chunk of the complaints fell outside of Simard’s mandate, according to the preliminary data. A significant portion were also related to election advertising.

More than 2,000 complaints have been closed as of Wednesday, the news release said.