Contrary to the initial findings of Canada’s foreign interference inquiry, it’s now clear interference by China, India, Russia, Iran, other foreign states and non-state actors, constitute a real and present danger to our democracy.
The problem is that the mandate of the foreign interference inquiry established by the Trudeau government and the opposition parties in September 2023, chaired by Justice Marie-Josee Hogue, initially focused on foreign interference confined to the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
Hogue determined in her initial report in May that interference in those elections, while eroding public trust in our democracy, was not at a level that ultimately impacted the overall election results — two Liberal minority governments.
But we now know from evidence revealed both inside and outside the commission proceedings that foreign interference by hostile states was never confined to the 2019 and 2021 federal election campaigns, which lasted a mere 40 days and 36 days respectively.
Ditto the absurdly high threshold put into place before government officials would have been allowed to inform the public of any foreign interference during those elections— that it could only happen if it was so severe that it had already corrupted any chance of a free and fair election, when obviously, it would have been too late.
In the real world, foreign interference is a 24/7, 365-day- a-year operation, aimed not just at politicians, but at Canadian citizens, especially those with familial links to hostile foreign states.
From their testimony, we now know many diaspora communities are under constant threat from agents of hostile foreign powers operating illegally here and attempting to coerce them to betray Canada’s interests by threatening them, their families, or punishing family members living in their country of origin.
As Hogue herself concluded:
“I learned foreign interference is an ever-present reality not just in Canada, but around the world. I also learned that the government takes measures to try and respond to it, whether or not an election is underway. In this way, foreign interference is like crime. It is always present. Its methods evolve. While government has ways to address it, it is likely impossible to eradicate. That said, it must be discouraged, and its effects must be mitigated.”
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
But how effectively is it being mitigated?
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was warned in 2019 by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) — which he created in 2017 — that Canada was losing the battle against foreign interference.
Chaired by Liberal MP David McGuinty, NSICOP includes representatives from all federal parties who are given security clearance to view classified material and interview Canada’s top security and intelligence officials in confidence.
That was five years ago, long before the impetus for Canada’s ongoing foreign interference inquiry was created by stories by Global News and the Globe and Mail beginning in late 2022, based on anonymous sources exposing gaping holes in Canada’s intelligence and security defences.
China was cited on foreign interference more than any other country in NSICOP’s 54-page report – 69 times. Russia was next with 61.
It warned Trudeau that China was engaging in interference at all levels of government – federal, provincial, municipal and Indigenous – targeting three key areas including elections, politicians and their staffs regardless of their political affiliation, as well as sub-national areas of government.
A declassified version of that report released seven months later warned that:
“Elected and public officials across all orders of government are targeted: members of the executive branch, members of Parliament, senators, members of provincial legislative assemblies, municipal officials and representatives of Indigenous governments … regardless of an official’s status in government or opposition. Beyond elected officials, individuals who may influence government decision-making are also targeted … jeopardizing the integrity of Canada’s system of government. Foreign interference activities are targeted at three key areas: the electoral process at all stages; elected officials and their staff; and sub-national areas of government.
“Once holding public office, elected and appointed officials, their staff, and employees of the legislative assemblies can also be targeted by foreign states … Foreign states will seek to influence deliberations and decision-making, and to curb initiatives deemed contrary to their interests. They will seek leverage over officials that can be used to apply pressure to enhance their interests … in some cases the target is unaware of the nature of the activity directed at them. In other cases, foreign states may seek to interfere with policy actions by attempting to discredit or attack senior public officials.
“The targeting and manipulation of ethnocultural communities is the primary means through which these states control messages and seek to influence decision-making at all levels of government … These states also co-opt individuals inside and outside of ethnocultural communities through flattery, bribery, … threats, harassment, detention of family members abroad; and refusal to issue travel documents or visas … community members are also monitored for what the foreign state considers to be dissident views or activities.”
The report said a lack of clarity, co-ordination and co-operation among Canada’s security, intelligence, policing and other government agencies — sometimes even disagreeing among themselves on what foreign interference meant — ended in Canadians targeted for foreign interference going to authorities for help, often receiving conflicting and incoherent instructions from CSIS, the RCMP and local police forces about what do.
Meanwhile, all political parties are balking at major reforms to the Wild West process by which they nominate their leaders and choose candidates to run in elections, because they don’t want to lose control of what Hogue has described as the “gateway” to foreign interference due to the fact the rules are so lax, inconsistent and in some cases non-existent.
Finally, Duff Conacher, director of Democracy Watch, a national, non-profit, non-partisan citizens’ organization advocating for democratic reforms and government accountability, says legislation recently passed by Parliament, ostensibly to combat foreign interference, contains glaring loopholes allowing secret lobbying and fundraising and that watchdogs appointed by the government to guard against foreign interference are in fact beholden to the government of the day as opposed to Parliament, where those powers properly belong.