OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – Elections Canada, the agency in charge of the national elections that is legally mandated to be non-partisan, launched a new website it claims is geared to fight election misinformation and disinformation that it says has grown with the rise of “social media” use.
Called “ElectoFacts,” the website came online on January 9 and contains information said to be factual in an effort Elections Canada says is to clear up so-called “misconceptions” regarding Canada’s process.
According to Elections Canada, “ElectoFacts” is a “resource that Canadian electors can use to easily check whether the information they come across about Canada’s federal electoral process is true or not. ElectoFacts also offers information on how federal elections are run and the safeguards in place to protect them.”
“Canadians increasingly get information about elections from online sources, including social media platforms. Some studies show that social media users regularly encounter false or misleading election-related content through these platforms even when trying to find accurate information,” Elections Canada contends.
Elections Canada made a note that it is not an “arbiter of truth, nor do we monitor the accuracy of content distributed by the platforms of political parties and candidates.”
The agency says it can “provide correct information about the administration of federal elections.”
While Elections Canada may be non-partisan, the current Liberal federal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pushed laws that some have warned could impact the press’ ability to cover future elections.
Over a week ago, LifeSiteNews reported that Canada’s official broadcast regulator might soon be producing draft rules for a pre-election “code of conduct” for newsrooms, which includes print and online journalists, thanks to the recent passage of federal internet censorship laws, an idea that has been blasted by some senators as an affront to freedom of the press.
Elections Canada claims new website highlights ‘eight categories of disinformation’
According to Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault, the new website is looking at “Building resilience against inaccurate information helps strengthen the overall health of democracy.”
The ElectoFacts website highlights what it says are eight categories of disinformation, which include vote by mail, foreign interference, and vote-counting.
One fact that the site claims was wrong from the 2021 federal election is regarding mail-in ballots.
Elections Canada said that a claim that 205,000 mail-in ballots were “lost, ignored” or not counted for the 2021 federal election is not true.
When it comes to how votes are counted in federal elections, all ballots are hand-counted. However, ElectoFacts did note that “while Elections Canada does not use automatic ballot-counting machines, they are successfully and securely used by election agencies in many other jurisdictions.”
“Elections Canada will first use electronic lists in a pilot project in a by-election before they are deployed on a wider scale. The data on electronic lists, like all electoral information, will be stored on a secure database in Canada, accessible only through a secure private network. Information security is a fundamental part of every new IT system or process that we develop.”
Last two federal elections under investigation for possible foreign interference
The ElectoFacts website comes despite a project done by McGill University and the University of Toronto into election “misinformation” that concluded that bad online information had a minimal impact on the 2021 federal election results.
However, when it comes to the last two elections in terms of foreign interference, things are different. Both the 2019 and 2021 federal elections are currently under investigation for potential election meddling done at the hands of Communist China.
A public inquiry into alleged meddling in Canada’s two most recent federal elections by CCP agents is set to start January 29.
In recent months, China’s alleged meddling in Canada’s federal elections has further errored trust in dealing with the CCP regime.
Indeed, the potential meddling has many Canadians worried, especially considering Trudeau’s past praise for China’s “basic dictatorship” and his labeling of the authoritarian nation as his favorite country other than his own.
Unless called early, the next Canadian federal election will not take place until fall 2025. However, the NDP has an informal coalition with the Trudeau government that began last year, agreeing to support and keep the Liberals in power until the next election is mandated by law in 2025. Until the NDP decides to break ranks with the Liberals, an early election call is unlikely.
Recent polls show that the scandal-plagued government has sent the Liberals into a nosedive with no end in sight. Per a recent LifeSiteNews report, according to polls, were a Canadian federal election held today, Conservatives under leader Pierre Poilievre would win a majority in the House of Commons over Trudeau’s Liberals.