Coalition Avenir Québec Leader Christine Fréchette has made a performative demand that CSIS investigate possible foreign interference in the Quebec election. It sounds much like Naheed Nenshi’s demand made months ago, which garnered him a form letter response from CSIS. Fréchette’s claim has even less substance behind it. Which is to say, pretty much none.

The root of the alleged interference is an essay that was published by an anonymous author on a little-known website where he stated the United States should actively try to foster independence movements within Canada to cause instability. Anybody can write anything on the internet. It doesn’t mean they have any real influence in the real world.

The Defense Analyses and Research Corporation (DARC) calls itself a think tank and created an X account, a website and a Substack site two years ago. There are no disclosed major donors, foundations, or government sponsors, and their reach doesn’t appear to extend beyond a few thousand followers on X. Most of the essays published on the site are under pseudonyms such as Alaric the Barbarian, Old Ironsides, Mukden and Not So Fuzzy Wuzzy. No formal leadership page, board list, or founder bios are published.

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Treating that text as evidence of an American campaign to swing the October 5 Quebec election requires several leaps. First, that an unsigned essay equals official policy. Second, that publication on an obscure site equals capability or intent to act. Third, that Quebec voters would be moved by a document most of them had never seen until politicians and media amplified it in the campaign’s final stretch.

There are hundreds of millions of websites in the world. If a person searches long enough, they can find one saying virtually anything. It doesn’t mean the site has any credibility or influence.

Federalists in both Quebec and Alberta have been trying to create a narrative of foreign interference being active among the independence movements in both provinces. There is no credible evidence that it has been happening, but it makes for an effective political tool to try to frighten citizens from voting for change.

If the strongest evidence of American interference they can find is an anonymous blog posting from a virtually unknown website last February, it’s safe to say there isn’t any interference going on.