Former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole claims foreign interference from China in the last election cost his party seats. But some media and national security experts are pushing back, arguing that it’s difficult to conclusively prove interference and that any intervention was unlikely to have been so decisive.

O’Toole made the comments about China’s state influence during an interview on CBC’s The House, which aired Saturday. He told host Chris Hall that while the level of interference he’s describing would not have changed the overall outcome of the election, it had an effect in several key areas, including B.C.’s lower mainland and some