Hillary Clinton not speaking at upcoming Canadian Liberal convention
- Published on February 4, 2026 at 20:53
- 2 min read
- By Gwen Roley, AFP Canada
American politician Hillary Clinton spoke at the Liberal Party of Canada convention in 2023 but claims that she would be returning to the event in 2026 are false. The Liberals confirmed Clinton was not scheduled to appear at the convention and the author of the post originating the claim told AFP it was intended as satire.
"BREAKING: Hillary Clinton is set to speak at the 2026 Liberal Convention in Montréal," reads the text inside a February 3, 2026 Facebook photo.
Similar claims spread across Facebook, X and in a now-unlisted video on YouTube, sometimes purporting her speech would focus on "foreign interference."
A 2025 Canadian inquiry revealed entities aligned with India and China interfered in in the 2019 and 2021 elections, but without a major impact on results.
While China was long deemed the main meddler in Canadian affairs -- reportedly to the benefit of the ruling Liberal Party (archived here) -- Prime Minister Mark Carney renewed relations with the Asian country in a recent trip to Beijing.
Former top American diplomat Clinton has also called out foreign interference in elections, particularly when partially blaming Russian meddling for her loss in the 2016 US presidential election ultimately won by Donald Trump.
A 2020 bipartisan US Senate report accused Russia of interfering to the benefit of Republican Trump, but Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee were also fined in 2022 for not disclosing funding of a research dossier on foreign interference.
Clinton made an appearance at the 2023 Liberal Party of Canada convention -- where members vote on objectives and party leadership -- and discussed Russia and human rights. But claims she was scheduled to speak at the 2026 convention are unfounded.
"This claim is completely false," said Liberal Party spokesman Matteo Rossi in a February 3, 2026 email to AFP.
He said announcements on featured speakers for the April convention were still forthcoming (archived here).
At least one iteration of the claim on YouTube attributed the false story to a post on X which appears to be the earliest mention of Clinton allegedly speaking at the convention.
The author of the post, Alberta Institute President Peter McCaffrey, confirmed to AFP in a February 3 email that it was originally meant to be a joke (archived here).
He also addressed the satirical nature publicly in the comments under his post on X (archived here).
Fraught Canada-US relations have prompted concerns about American influence on mounting provincial separatist movements, while US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent compared a controversial Ontario ad featuring Ronald Reagan to "election interference."
Read more of AFP's reporting on misinformation in Canada here.
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