Now, after one failed attempt to do so and years of unheeded warnings, a senator is hoping to bring in a remedy able to at least track which foreign organizations are trying to influence the country’s powerful.
Less than a year ago, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service released a report explaining that Canada is a target of foreign-interference operations. CSIS said it aims to “sensitize” Canadians to the issue of foreign governments seeking to influence the country’s institutions and elected officials.
“Examples of foreign interference include attempts to covertly influence, intimidate, manipulate, interfere, corrupt or discredit individuals, organizations and governments to further the interests of a foreign state,” read the July 2021 report.
It wasn’t a one-off. Another document released by Public Safety Canada in March 2021 said that department had observed “multiple instances of foreign states targeting Canadian institutions and communities.”
The document goes on to specifically named the People’s Republic of China as one state undertaking such efforts.
But critics say Canada’s reaction has been limp to these numerous warnings, which go all the way back to the 1990s to the investigation into attempts by China to influence Canadian politicians with Project Sidewinder.
A Conservative senator is hoping to draw the government’s attention to the problem by establishing a registry to track those working to affect the government, called a “foreign influence registry” in the bill.
Sen. Leo Housakos’s Bill S-237, introduced this year and in second reading earlier this week, is an endeavor he says the country must see through to protect Canada’s democracy. The registry would essentially require anyone working to further the interests of a foreign state in Canada to register and would apply to all nations under penalty of law.
It’s not the first time a Canadian lawmaker has tried to establish such a registry; Australia and the United States already have them.
Proponents are hoping Parliament acts on the latest attempt. Housakos said, despite the years of warnings, Ottawa has made “zero” effort to address the threats of foreign interference.
“In the spirit of transparency and in the spirit of protecting our national security and our democratic institutions, particularly these nefarious states, we need to know when they’re trying to reach and influence our governments,” he said.
The registry would apply to anyone working on behalf of a foreign government, aside from diplomats or official government workers, seeking to communicate with a public office holder for a number of specific purposes — among the reasons outlined in the bill are development of legislation, awarding of grants or contracts and arranging meetings with public office holders.
The legislation would make documents related to such efforts subject to access-to-information requests.
It would include Canadians doing work for companies with strong relationships to foreign states, Housakos said, though it can be hard to prove how closely linked some foreign governments and their nation’s companies are.
But, he said, current Conservative leadership candidate Jean Charest’s work for Chinese telecom giant and independent company Huawei is the kind of work to which the registry would apply.
Charest, a partner at law firm McCarthy Tétrault, said in an interview with CBC last month that he didn’t do any work for Huawei against the national interest of Canada.
The company said he was working mainly to help Huawei’s 5G efforts in Canada; Charest said he was working to help free Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor during their detention in China after Huawei’s CFO, Meng Wanzhou, was arrested in Vancouver on a request from the United States.
Housakos said he’s still unclear on what Charest was doing for Huawei and a registry would help clear up such questions. Charest would have “absolutely” had to register if such an act had already existed, he said.
Foreign-influence operations aren’t the same as a corporation, he said, so the current federal lobbyist registry doesn’t serve the same function. Organizations trying to sway Canada’s institutions aren’t just doing so from a business approach.
“They set up front cultural organizations, they set up fronts in terms of all kinds of non-profit groups. They also support certain kinds of foundations,” he said. “That’s why we have to be a little bit more broad in scope in making sure that at any given time an organization of any nature that is supported directly or indirectly by these foreign entities have to register when they’re trying to influence our institutions and governments.”
Concerns about China’s United Front Work Department have also increased in recent years. The department is known for reaching out internationally to organizations and politicians in an effort to further the Chinese Communist Party’s agenda.
The United Front has been accused of mobilizing contacts in Canada to harass and intimidate critics of the CCP and to build relationships with officials in a bid to find allies who may side with Beijing on issues.
Meanwhile, the federal government appears to be open to the idea of a foreign influence registry.
On Wednesday, during an appearance in the Senate to take questions about his portfolio, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said Canada is facing an “environment of heightened threats to our national security” including foreign interference.
Housakos then asked if the government would support a foreign agents registry.
“I certainly think that’s an idea that merits study,” Mendicino replied, using the example of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the national security threats it represents to Canada, including foreign interference operations to retaliate against Canada for its support of Ukraine.
But the idea has also been met with resistance in the past.
Former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu had a similar bill before the House of Commons last year, but it died when the 2021 election was called. The idea behind Housakos’s bill is the same.
Chiu’s push to start a foreign influence registry contributed somewhat to his defeat, he told the Star. But the defeat itself showcased why the need for such a registry exists in the first place, he said.
During the election, a misinformation campaign against Chiu spread throughout Chinese-language websites. They accused Chiu’s bill of aiming to establish a registry targeting Chinese people in Canada generally, not just people working for foreign governments.
“We didn’t have the time to do a good job in explaining to our constituents what the bill is about,” he said. “How we’re going to enforce it, why is it needed, and as a result it’s been exploited by certain people.”
On Tuesday, as Housakos was taking questions during debate about his proposed legislation in the red chamber, his fellow Conservative Senator Victor Oh stood up seemingly to speak against it. Oh said he had “warned” Chiu about “acting” as though he was the head of Canada’s global affairs.
Oh said Chiu’s claims Chinese agents had sabotaged his campaign were “not true” and Oh later said Chiu was “lying.” The next day, Oh sorry.
Chiu said he wasn’t interested in rehashing the event since Oh had apologized, but said he is hoping the second incarnation of his bill will now get attention from Parliament.
“I’m hopeful that it will actually receive more support from across the floor in the Senate as well as the House of Commons,” Chiu said.
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