The risk of foreign interference is real

Last week, we discussed the growing influence of disinformation on Canadian politics, with a particular focus on the so-called Alberta independence movement. I received a greater response to that column, all of it positive, than to any other column this year.

The emails came from all over Canada, as well as a few from the U.S. One reader wrote that “Democracies (those surviving) worldwide are under siege by internal and external forces. Social media platforms serve as the pot in which anyone/anything can stir up the populace. Woeful ignorance makes too many easy to manipulate.”

Another said that “I do my best to stay informed and your column has become one of my constants. I wholeheartedly agree with your call to stand up to intolerance — to have our voices heard in situations where ignorance seems to be establishing roots.”

Yet another reader encouraged other readers to “keep the elbows up and do not let misinformation and divisiveness take over our lives.”

In order to grasp the importance — and perhaps the urgency — of those words, note that the CBC reported last month that, in response to the possibility of sovereignty referenda in both Alberta and Quebec in 2026, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service is becoming increasingly concerned about the threat of foreign interference affecting those plebiscites.

That same report indicated that “Concerns about foreign adversaries meddling in referendums largely stem from allegations that Russia tried to interfere in the 2016 Brexit referendum,” echoing a 2024 CBC report in which Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick was quoted as saying a referendum “would now be fought on social media. It would be subject to cyber attacks. It would be subject to disinformation campaigns. It would look a lot more like the Brexit referendum of 2016 in Britain — only worse.”

Canada’s foreign interference focus may be primarily on Russia and China, which each have a history of interfering in elections and other government processes around the globe. But those aren’t the only nations Canadians should be concerned about right now.

Just yesterday, the National Post reported that the leading members of the “Alberta Prosperity Project” — the primary group behind the independence referendum — “have been wooing the Trump administration for support for an independent Alberta.”

The report revealed that APP representatives have met with members of the U.S. State Department as recently as last week, and discussed what the U.S. could do to show support for Alberta independence.

APP co-founder Jeff Rath told the National Post that “One of the things that we’d like to see is U.S. recognition of Alberta as an independent country immediately upon a successful referendum.” He suggested they are also discussing a $500-billion line of credit from the U.S. Treasury, which “would allow Alberta to negotiate its departure from Canada from a position of strength.”

That same report revealed that the APP leaders are also seeking support from Latin American nations. Trips to El Salvador and Argentina are planned for early 2026.

All of that is bad, but what makes the situation even more dangerous is the growing power of social media to manipulate public opinion. Over a short election or referendum campaign, it is very difficult, and often impossible, to refute fake facts that materialize on social media. That problem is made worse by the reality that a declining number of people rely on traditional media for their news.

A growing portion of the population now gets their news information from social media websites and message boards that deliberately exercise no control over the accuracy of the information provided on those websites. In fact, many of those sites encourage misinformation because it often drives up their “user engagement” numbers, which can result in higher revenues for those sites.

In other words, the more over-torqued, fake news they can spread, the more money they can make.

Add that reality to the fact that many of the most aggressive rabble-rousers online are often fake “bot” accounts located in other nations, and the danger becomes obvious: If another nation, or even just a motivated group in another nation, wishes to manipulate the result of an election or referendum in Canada, there isn’t much we can do to stop it, short of shutting down the internet — and that will never happen.

What can we do? It won’t be easy, but we must confront and correct misinformation when we see it. We must use the social media “reach” that we each have to set the record straight among our Facebook friends and those who follow us on other sites.

More importantly, we need to stay in contact with our friends and family, providing them with the “straight facts” and correcting the BS they are being fed by troublemakers and knuckleheads.

The coming year is going to be a turbulent, dangerous time for our nation. We can’t sit by and let it happen, naively assuming things will work out OK.

Do up your chin strap, put your elbows up and get ready for what’s coming. Let’s each do our part to ensure that Canadians have the correct information they need in order to make the right choices in the voting booth.