U.S. Embassy Accuses Canada of Meddling in Midterm Elections

The U.S. Embassy accused Canada of meddling in the upcoming midterm elections, citing several actions taken by Canadian officials. The embassy released a 'fact sheet' detailing these actions, which include Liberal MP Anthony Housefather canvassing for a Florida Democrat during a primary vote earlier this year, comments made by Industry Minister Mélanie Joly regarding Canada's counter-tariff strategy, and the Ontario government's Ronald Reagan ad that ran in the U.S. last year. The embassy also included a federal government billboard campaign from early 2025 in its list. The U.S. Embassy declined to comment when asked if a Canadian official offering a similar endorsement to a midterm candidate would amount to potential election interference. The accusation comes despite Donald Trump's track record of endorsing foreign candidates, including presidential or prime ministerial candidates in Poland, Honduras, Colombia, and Japan. Trump has endorsed about half a dozen candidates across the globe since he returned to the White House in early 2025.

Daniel Drezner, a professor of international politics at Tufts University in Massachusetts, said U.S. officials suggesting Canada is interfering in the midterms is a situation of the 'pot calling the kettle black,' given Trump's track record. The truth is that this administration has had a long track record of intervening directly into the elections of official allies,' he told CBC News in an interview. The current president is not the only notable U.S. politician to talk Canadian electoral politics during a campaign. Former president Barack Obama publicly endorsed former prime minister Justin Trudeau in 2019 and 2021, albeit after he had left the White House. Sen. Bernie Sanders also backed former NDP leader Jagmeet Singh in the 2021 campaign.

The U.S. Embassy's list came after Ambassador Pete Hoekstra and Trump adviser Peter Navarro warned against Canada getting involved in the midterms. Prime Minister Mark Carney and other government officials have pushed back on the suggestion that Canada is looking to interfere. There is no merit to these claims, so I'll call it out that way,' Carney told reporters during a news conference in Istanbul on Friday. I'm disappointed that their envoy sees that as his role, to make these suggestions,' the prime minister said of Hoekstra in particular.

While Drezner said Housefather's canvassing for a candidate might be 'slightly unusual,' other instances the embassy mentioned, like Joly and Bernadette Jordan, Canada's consul general in Boston, meeting with American politicians, amounts to 'garden variety diplomacy.' Joly herself has pushed back against the accusations saying she has met with Republicans and Democrats in recent months. The trade war has become a pressure point on Republican candidates in border states like Michigan and Maine.