Liberals Promise Action, Tories Criticize Government in Response to Foreign Interference Inquiry

Inquiry commissioner Marie-Josee Hogue listens to testimony at the federal inquiry into foreign interference in Ottawa on Oct. 16, 2024. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

The Liberal government has vowed to review the recommendations laid out in the Foreign Interference Commission’s final report and promised over $77 million toward protecting Canada’s elections, while the Conservative Party has accused the government of failing to protect Canadians from foreign interference.

The commission’s report, released on Jan. 28, said that foreign powers have been attempting to interfere in Canada’s democracy by influencing elected officials and spreading misinformation and disinformation. The report says China is the most active perpetrator of foreign interference in Canada, followed by India.

Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue wrote there had been some instances of “marginal and largely ineffective” attempts by actors to curry favour with MPs, but there are no “traitors” within Parliament. These report comes as a June 2024 National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) report alleged some parliamentarians are “semi-witting or witting” participants of efforts by foreign states to interfere in Canadian politics.

Hogue also warned that the spread of misinformation and disinformation by foreign actors poses the “single biggest risk” to Canada’s democracy.

The report contains 51 recommendations for the government and intelligence agencies, such as developing a whole-of-government foreign interference strategy, declassifying intelligence when it serves the public interest, rectifying processes to ensure important intelligence documents get read by senior decision-makers, creating a hotline for reporting foreign interference, developing a “Duty to Warn” policy, and further training parliamentarians on foreign interference threats, to name a few.

Minister of Public Safety David McGuinty, who was previously chair of NSICOP, and Minister of Democratic Institutions Ruby Sahota said the safeguarding of Canada’s democratic institutions is “paramount” and that the Liberal government would “carefully review” the report’s findings and recommendations.

The government also announced it would allocate $44 million for the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer to ensure it can protect against disinformation and foreign interference threats to elections, $27.5 million for the Canadian Heritage’s Digital Citizen Initiative to fund projects that “build citizen resilience against online disinformation,” and $5.95 million for Global Affairs to monitor and strengthen defences around keeping Canadians informed of electoral interference.

In a statement, the Conservative Party said the report had shown evidence that the Liberal government “failed to protect our democracy from foreign meddling in the 2019 and 2021 general elections.” The report found that some Conservative MPs had been targets of Chinese misinformation campaigns during elections.

The Conservative Party also highlighted Hogue’s criticisms that the government had taken “too long to act” and had been “insufficiently transparent when it comes to foreign interference.” The party said it was “relieving” that Hogue found there were no “traitors” in Parliament, and said the party would study the report’s recommendations and proposals.

New Democrat, Bloc Leaders Respond

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh responded to Hogue’s report by saying the party wanted to make sure Canada is free from foreign interference and that “everyday Canadians can live their lives without the threat or harassment of a foreign government.” Hogue’s report highlighted that several states have engaged in transnational repression in Canada to intimidate and harass diaspora communities.

Singh also pointed to the report’s concern with information manipulation, and said the amount of misinformation online is “rampant” and a “serious concern for democracy and for an upcoming election.” He raised concerns with the report’s findings that the results in specific ridings could have been changed in the 2019 and 2021 elections.

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said Hogue’s report appeared to be “a bit light.” But Blanchet said his party needed to accept the conclusions of Hogue’s report, as he said the Bloc played an important role in establishing the commission.

All opposition parties pushed for the government to commission the inquiry, after the Liberal government initially refused, and instead appointed former Governor General David Johnston as a special rapporteur to look into the issue of foreign interference. Johnston quit his post as rapporteur as opposition parties raised conflict-of-interest concerns given Johnston’s relations with the Trudeau’s as a family friend.

All the main political parties also negotiated the commission’s terms of reference and commissioner, and in 2024 the Bloc asked the government to expand the commission’s mandate to investigate federal democratic institutions and politicians who may be working in the interests of foreign powers, which Hogue agreed to.