MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin was impressed at Canadian voters initiative to misinform themselves without the aid of a foreign power.

Putin was more than happy not to have lifted a finger to manipulate Canada’s public opinion throughout the election campaign since voters have shown a willingness not to check facts before posting a misleading meme about Justin Trudeau or doctored audio of Andrew Scheer.

“Who needs an elaborate web of Twitter bots when I have a 63-year-old grandmother from Lethbridge peddling the conspiracy theory that Justin Trudeau is the son of Fidel Catro,? said a satisfied Putin to his chief of security. “Or how about this one on the lie that over half of border crossers into Canada have criminal records. That one has over 4,000 Retweets!”

With the money saved thanks to enthusiastic voters who can’t be bothered to verify something with a simple Google search and political parties that perpetuate rumours, Putin and the FSB’s cyberwarfare office can focus on destabilizing other democracies across the globe.

Putin chuckled while perusing through an uncle’s Facebook feed reading about a false connection between the RCMP Commissioner being married to Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s cousin.

“Why didn’t we think of that one?” asked Putin to a shrugging FSB officer.