MPs from all parties urge government to set up foreign agent registry

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MPs from all parties in the House of Commons have joined a coalition of diaspora community groups in calling on the federal government to immediately table legislation setting up a foreign agent influence registry.

Coalition spokesperson Gloria Fung told a news conference Tuesday on Parliament Hill that diaspora groups have been waiting since 2021 for Ottawa to act.

“We are tired of empty promises. We need action now,” Ms. Fung said.

MPs from the Liberal, Conservative, NDP, Bloc Québécois and Green parties joined the community groups to voice their support for a registry for anyone working to influence governments, elections or citizens on behalf of a foreign power.

Failure to register could result in fines or jail sentences for foreign agents.

“There has to be a cost associated for any country that interferes with our democratic processes or our elections,” Liberal MP Ali Ehsassi said. Conservative MP Tom Kmiec added: “If you take money from a foreign government, you should have to register in Canada. It’s time to do it.”

The government has been working since last year on a package of reforms to deal with foreign interference. It includes a foreign agent registry and changes to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act, the Security of Information Act and the Criminal Code to make foreign interference an offence.

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc told reporters Tuesday that foreign agent registry legislation is “coming soon,” as are other measures to combat foreign interference from hostile states.

“This is part of our ongoing effort to strengthen legislation with respect to foreign interference,” he said. “So I’m confident that the foreign influence registry will be part of a broader effort to strengthen legislation with respect to countering foreign interference.”

Bloc MP René Villemure said his party will table its own foreign agent legislation before June if the government does not get its act together.

The United States and Australia have already set up foreign agent registries, and Britain has a law on the books that will come into force later this year.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation used the 86-year-old Foreign Agents Registration Act last year to arrest Chinese agents suspected of trying to intimidate Chinese citizens in the U.S. – an activity that also appears to be taking place in Canada in so-called “police stations” operated by Beijing.

Previously, the FBI used the FARA law to pursue investigations into Russian agents suspected of involvement in election meddling and influence peddling in Washington after the 2016 U.S. election.

NDP MP Jenny Kwan, who has been targeted by Beijing for her criticism of China’s human-rights abuses, said the government needs to get the foreign agent registry up and running before the election expected next year.

The proposed registry has been opposed by some within the Chinese-Canadian community. Independent Senator Yuen Pau Woo, appointed to the upper house by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2016, has argued that a foreign-influence registry could do more harm than good and could infringe on Canadians’ Charter rights.

Ms. Kwan accused Mr. Woo of promoting disinformation.

“This registry will protect everyone. It doesn’t matter what community you come from,” Ms. Kwan said. “We want every single Canadian to be protected. Without this registry that means those vulnerable communities could be targeted.”

Marcus Kolga, president of the Central and Eastern European Council in Canada, said we already have laws requiring lobbyists to register when they try to influence the government, so “shouldn’t we demand transparency from those who advance the aims of foreign regimes, specifically those like Russia, China, Iran and others.”

The registry will shine a light in the shadows where former diplomats, politicians, government officials and academics are paid to work on behalf of authoritarian regimes, Mr. Kolga said.