OTTAWA, Ontario — The leaked intelligence reports have set off a political firestorm. They describe plans by the government of China and its diplomats in Canada to ensure that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party took power in the past two elections, raising troubling questions about the integrity of Canada’s democracy.

But as two prominent Canadian news organizations have published a series of leaks over the past month, Trudeau has refused calls to launch a public inquiry into the matter, angering political opponents and leading to accusations that he is covering up foreign attempts to undermine his country’s elections.

The news reports do not present any evidence that the Chinese carried out any of their plans for meddling or changing election outcomes. And an independent review released this month as part of Canada’s routine monitoring of election interference upheld the integrity of the 2019 and 2021 votes.

Even so, the leaks pose a risk for Trudeau of appearing weak in the face of potential Chinese aggression and indecisive as a leader acting to preserve election integrity. His political opponents have accused him of being disloyal to Canada.

As the intelligence leaks have flowed, Trudeau has shifted from trying to dismiss them and refusing to discuss them due to secrecy laws, to announcing a series of closed-door reviews related to election integrity.

Still, he continues to rebuff repeated calls for a public inquiry, arguing that other avenues are more appropriate. He said he would establish a public inquiry only if one of his other reviews concludes it’s necessary.

“Canada has some of the best and most robust elections in the world,” Trudeau told reporters. “All Canadians can have total confidence that the outcomes of the 2019 and 2021 elections were determined by Canadians, and Canadians alone, at the voting booth.”

The Liberals have accused Conservatives of undermining the public’s confidence in Canada’s electoral system by falsely claiming that the government ignored warnings of potential Chinese interference. Liberals have also accused Conservatives of using the leaks to fan fear and suspicion of Chinese-Canadian elected officials, in an effort to discredit them and undermine their participation in electoral politics.

The political attacks on Trudeau have been spearheaded by the leader of the Conservative Party, which says it is raising legitimate threats to Canadian democracy.

“He’s covered it up, even encouraged it to continue,” said the leader, Pierre Poilievre, who suggested that “the prime minister is acting against Canada’s interest and in favor of a foreign dictatorship’s interests.”

Heightened scrutiny of China’s efforts to subvert Canada’s political process — and corresponding pressure on Trudeau — started in mid-February after the publication of an article in The Globe and Mail, a Toronto newspaper.

According to the newspaper, its reporters had seen unspecified secret and top secret reports from the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service that described the intentions of Chinese officials to manipulate the past two elections. The goal, according to the paper’s description of the leaks, was to prevent a win by the Conservative Party, which the Chinese viewed as excessively hard-line toward China.

A Chinese consular official boasted to her superiors that she had engineered the defeat of two Conservative candidates in 2021, The Globe and Mail reported, although the newspaper provided no evidence to support her claim.

The Globe and Mail’s articles and reports on Global News, a broadcaster based in Canada, said the leaks described orders given to Chinese diplomats based in Canada and, according to the news reports, involved 11 of Canada’s 338 electoral districts.

The leaks to both news organizations described illegal cash payments to Liberals and illegal hiring by Chinese officials or their agents in Canada of international students from China, who were reportedly then presented to Liberal campaigns as volunteers. Trudeau and other Liberals have characterized the reports as “inaccurate.”

Some of the supposed plans would have been difficult to execute within Canada’s electoral system, analysts said, because Canada limits and tightly controls campaign spending and fundraising.

“It does come across as a highly unsophisticated understanding of Canadian politics,” said Lori Turnbull, an associate professor of political science at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Even so, Conservatives have been able to push Trudeau into a corner while casting doubt on the allegiance of certain Chinese-Canadian elected officials in the Liberal Party, such as Michael Chan, a former Liberal Cabinet minister in Ontario’s provincial government.

David Bercuson, director emeritus of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary in Alberta, said he believes that Trudeau will eventually have to allow a public inquiry.

Trudeau, Bercuson said, has yet to “do anything to resolve the growing mistrust.”