Elections in Canada and Russia in 2019: a comparative analysis of cross-national media coverage

Abstract

In 2019, Canada and Russia went through election campaigns in their respective countries. While Canada voted at the federal level, Russia held regional and municipal elections, and therefore the scale and outcome of these two campaigns cannot be compared per se. Yet shifting a focus to media coverage, this paper explores Canada-Russia relations at a given moment in time, including the extent to which disinformation took place on either side. The two countries were actively involved in cross-commenting about the situation on the ground. Russian English-language media outlets were visibly more anti-Trudeau in nature in their Canadian election coverage, while Canadian authorities called on their Russiancounterparts to respect freedoms of assembly during pre-election opposition rallies in Moscow. However, in a modern highly interconnected world, where should the border between news reporting/tweeting and an attempt to interfere in elections be located; and how do these efforts advance each country’s interests?