A copy of the interim report is seen on a table following its release at the Public Inquiry Into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions, in Ottawa, on May 3.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Now, was that so hard? It’s been 39 months since the Trudeau government first floated the idea of a foreign-agent registry as a way to counter the under-the-radar activities of those acting at the behest of unfriendly countries. Since then, there has been hemming, hawing, foot-dragging, backtracking and, for good measure, baseless fearmongering by the Liberals.
But this week, the government unveiled legislation that will, finally, set up a registry in Canada, just as Australia and the United States have done, and as the United Kingdom is in the process of doing.
By itself, a foreign-agent registry is no surefire prophylactic against meddling from China or other countries with similar ill intentions. But the lack of such a system is part of the reason why this country has been seen as a soft target for Beijing’s efforts. Closing that gap is part, but only part, of a needed effort to bolster Canada’s defences.
The act creating the registry looks solid enough. It proposes stiff criminal penalties for agents of a foreign government who fail to put their name in the registry and aren’t able to show they exercised due diligence. Accompanying amendments to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act and other legislation are needed, indeed overdue.
The timing speaks volumes about Liberal priorities; it was announced on the heels of the interim report from the public inquiry on foreign interference. Now, luckily enough, the Liberals have something to talk about other than the shortcomings outlined, and the questions raised, in that report.
The big issue, though, is not so much what the government is proposing, but when it is doing so. If, for instance, the Liberals had moved expeditiously in the spring of 2021, Parliament could have passed a bill two years ago. A registry could exist now.
Rather than move ahead expeditiously, the Liberals chose to delay, even when evidence of Beijing’s meddling became public more than a year ago. There was ample material to work with, including legislation from the U.S., Britain and Australia, as well as a Senate bill to set up a registry that has drifted in limbo for more than two years.
As the controversy over Beijing’s meddling intensified in the spring of 2023, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised a registry. But that effort was soon sidetracked into consultations, with no legislative timeline from the government.
Part of the supposed justification for such meanderings was to avoid the mistakes of the past, with Mr. Trudeau warning that Canada had to “be mindful of our history” in proposing “registries of foreigners.”
That warning, designed to dredge up memories of the head tax on Chinese immigrants and the internment of Japanese-Canadians, was beyond specious. No one was proposing that Canada set up a registry of foreigners, but merely a registry of anyone working for a foreign power.
Which is what the Liberals have now put forward. And, amazingly enough, they have proven able to propose legislation that somehow avoids the pitfall of setting up modern-day internment camps.
But it has taken more than three years, and formal debate over foreign-registry legislation has yet to start. The government estimates that it will take a year to set up a registry once the bill becomes law. The Commons and the Senate would have to approve the bill by early September for a registry to be in place ahead of an expected election campaign in the early fall of 2025.
That timeline will not be helped by the government’s bundling of a series of complex legislative changes into a single bill. The amendments to the CSIS act merit serious debate, as do the criminal sanctions against interference.
Those proposals should be severed from the bill setting up a foreign-agent registry. Such a move would allow for an expedited debate on the registry. The related legislation could then be examined as the months-long process of setting up a registry proceeded in parallel.
The opposition parties, particularly the Conservatives, can play a constructive role here, balancing the need for legitimate scrutiny against the equal need to set up a registry in advance of the 2025 campaign.
Years of delay from the Liberals makes reaching that goal more difficult than it needed to be. But Canada must harden its defences against meddling from China, and others, before the next federal election.