Conservative MP Michael Chong reacts to the Initial Report from the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions in the foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 3.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
If you thought you heard a strange sound on Tuesday when the Conservatives offered to help the minority Liberal government fast-track its foreign interference bill through Parliament, it may have come from the collective thud of thousands of Canadian jaws hitting the floor.
Bipartisanship has not exactly been a hallmark of the current Parliament, so the offer of cooperation from Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong to Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc was a shocker.
It was also the right thing to do. Whatever political calculation might lie behind the Conservatives’ sudden generosity is overridden by a singular truth – that the foreign interference that occurred in the 2019 and 2021 elections cannot be allowed to be repeated in the vote scheduled for no later than Oct. 20, 2025.
The Conservatives’ offer of cooperation also happens to be undeserved shot at redemption for the Trudeau government, whose irresponsible foot-dragging on this issue is the reason urgent bipartisan action is needed to push Bill C-70 through the House of Commons and send it to the Senate before the House rises for the summer in three weeks.
If adopted in time, Bill C-70 would go a long way toward making the upcoming election, and all subsequent ones, more secure from malign foreign interference, thereby preserving the electoral system’s integrity in the eyes of voters. There is nothing more critical in a democracy.
The bill’s most notable effect would be the creation of a long-awaited foreign influence registry. In broad terms, this would require anyone acting on behalf of a foreign government or entity to register their activities if they intend to influence government policy or the outcome of an election.
The United States, Australia and Britain have, or are in the process of enacting, similar registries. The Liberals first talked about implementing a registry in 2021, but then stalled and stalled again. Time is now of the essence, because it will take a year to get the registry up and running, which means it must be in place by the end of the summer.
But the registry is only one part of Bill C-70. Other parts amend the Canadian Security Intelligence Act, the Criminal Code and the Security of Information Act in ways designed to deter foreign election-meddling.
The bill would make it a crime offence to engage “in surreptitious or deceptive conduct, at the direction of or in association with a foreign entity, with the intent to influence, among other things, the exercise of a democratic right in Canada.”
It would also remove the burden of proving that any such alleged criminal act actually helped a foreign state or harmed Canada’s interests.
Another key change would be one giving CSIS the right to share information about potential threats beyond the government – for instance, with political parties targeted by foreign-influence campaigns.
On Wednesday, the Conservatives proposed a unanimous consent motion that would have expedited the bill to third reading next week, but with a condensed hearing schedule. The NDP blocked it, prompting accusations by Mr. Chong that the NDP was playing “political games” and didn’t take the threat of foreign interference seriously.
Instead, the House settled for an NDP motion that moved the bill past second reading and into committee hearings.
That’s not the end of the world. It needs to be noted that the bill is more than just about preventing foreign election interference. It would also make it easier for CSIS to collect electronic records, raising privacy issues, and it amends the Criminal Code to allow for a life sentence for anyone who commits a criminal offence, no matter how minor, on behalf of a foreign entity.
In other words, it’s a bill that needs to be adopted quickly but also needs careful consideration.
If the NDP is going to push for longer debate, they need to commit to a timeline that will allow the House to adopt the bill and send it to the Senate in short order. On Thursday, they made some concessions to that imperative in a new motion, but there is still no guarantee the bill can move on to the Senate in time.
Canada cannot fail to protect our next election from the meddling in the previous two. If the NDP has objections, they should make those known so they can be considered as part of a fast-track process. Above all, they should join with the rest of the Commons in moving expeditiously to safeguard Canada’s democracy.