The silver lining of foreign interference: working together

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/05/2024 (863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“They succeeded in part in 2019 and 2021 because some Canadians have now reduced trust in Canada’s democratic process. This is perhaps the greatest harm Canada has suffered as a result of foreign interference.”

— Quote from Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue’s first report on allegations of foreign interference in Canadian elections..

The credibility of Canada’s electoral system has taken a beating in the eyes of the public over the past year as our parliamentarians have wrestled with questions over foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

In the wake of Commissioner Hogue’s critical May 3 report from the public inquiry into foreign interference in the federal electoral process and democratic institutions, it’s important that our elected officials in Ottawa come together to build safeguards into our system as quickly as possible — and most certainly before Canadians have to go back to the polls.

And we’re glad to see that the Conservative Party of Canada, namely Conservative MP and foreign affairs critic Michael Chong, extend an offer to the minority Liberals to help expedite legislation intended to do exactly that.

On Tuesday, the Globe and Mail reported that the federal Tories are offering to help the Trudeau government fast-track Bill C-70, the government’s foreign interference legislation, provided that the bill’s key provisions are put in place before the next federal election.

In a letter to Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc that was posted to social media on Tuesday, Chong expressed concern that time was running out to safeguard the next election, and noted that “inaction and delay cannot continue.”

“As Justice hogue noted, the risk from the impacts of foreign interference will only increase as long as “sufficient protective measures to guard against it” are not taken,” Chong wrote.

He also wrote that the Conservatives have proposed to move a unanimous consent motion at the end of the debate at second reading that “if adopted, will allow the expeditious passage of Bill C-70 through the House of Commons and through committee…”

It was a rare, across the aisle gesture that we have seen far too little of in recent years. But perhaps it really does take a foreign enemy to make that old aphorism true — politics makes for strange bedfellows.

For if anyone knows how damaging allegations of foreign interference can be to one’s political fortunes, you need look no further than Chong himself, as he was the target of an alleged political campaign by China. As CBC reported, Chong learned from a Globe and Mail report last year that the Chinese government had targeted him and his relatives in Hong Kong in the lead-up to the 2021 election, largely due to his stance against Canada’s use of Huawei technology and Beijing’s treatment of Uyghurs.

Global Affairs Canada has also pointed to China as the culprit behind a co-ordinated online smear campaign against the Tory MP. It’s not really surprising that the man would push his own party to back the legislation, as his personal and professional reputation has been maligned as a result over the past year.

He’s also quite correct in his critique of the slow movement by the Trudeau government to get rolling on important legislation to bolster Canada’s defences from foreign interference. As Justice Hogue wrote in her first report, foreign interference in 2019 and 2021 undermined the right of Canadian voters to have an electoral process “free from coercion or covert influence” and as a result may have affected the results in a small number of ridings.

That Canada needs to respond more nimbly to foreign threats to our country is obvious. If more Canadians feel less secure in the outcome of federal, provincial or even municipal elections, it makes it increasingly difficult to effectively govern the country.

Let’s hope this single decision to work together is the first step toward shutting down outside influence in our electoral process. Then our elected officials can all go back to their polarized corners and bash each other instead. Not that they’re out of practice.