Tories Lost Up to 9 Ridings in 2021 Election Due to Chinese Interference, Says O’Toole

Former Tory leader Erin O’Toole says his party lost up to nine ridings in the 2021 elections because of interference from the Chinese regime. While testifying before the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference on April 3, Mr. O’Toole said six to nine seats “were possibly changed as a result of foreign interference.” The inquiry is currently in its second phase of hearings to explore foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections. Mr. O’Toole said the allegedly affected ridings had narrower margins in the vote count, with “large numbers of people not voting and suspicions about voter suppression.” The former Tory leader said he didn’t raise the issue to challenge the elections results and remarked his party did not publicly discuss the matter following the 2021 electoral defeat. He added that if the candidates in the ridings were “undergoing intimidation or suppression measures, their democratic rights were being trampled on by foreign actors.”...